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TRAVELS IN FOREIGN LANDS 

BY CURTIS GUILD 

Editor of the boston commercial bulletin 



OVER THE OCEAN 

OR SIGHTS AND SCENES IN FOREIGN LANDS 

$2 50 



ABROAD AGAIN 

OR A FRESH FORAY IN FOREIGN LANDS 

$2.50 



BRITONS AND MUSCOVITES 

OR TRAITS OF BOTH EMPIRES 

$2.00 



PUBLISHED BY LEE AND SHEPARD 

10 MILK STREET NEXT OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE 
BOSTON 



Britons and Muscovites 



OR 



TRAITS OF TWO EMPIRES 



BY 



CURTIS GUILD 

EDITOR OF THE BOSTON COMMERCIAL BULLETIN, AUTHOR OF 
" OVER THE OCEAN " AND " ABROAD AGAIN " 



■ 




BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

IO MILK STREET, NEXT OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE 

NEW YORK CHARLES T DILLINGHAM 

1888 



c\± 



jO*CO*G*Ui 
WAMUffOTO* 



Copyright, 1888, by Curtis Guild 



All Rights Reserved 



BRITONS AND MUSCOVITES 






PREFACE. 



In presenting a third volume of experiences abroad, 
or the sights and scenes of 'foreign 'travel as seen by an 
American tourist, the author begins with that ever pro- 
lific field, England. •• ■ ' ..''•" 

The reader is taken to the picturesque old ruins of 
Fountains and Furness Abbeys, to old Boston in Lin- 
colnshire, and other historic points neglected by most 
travellers in that " tight little island." Some space is 
given to the consideration of English hotel management, 
from the fact that it seemed to be a leading topic with 
all American tourists. The abortive efforts to carry on 
large hotels in London on the American plan, and the 
annoyances experienced by Americans, who expect 
the same conveniences and accommodation obtainable 
at home, offer a tempting theme for general discussion. 

A descriptive sketch is given of the author's journey 
to Russia, and the result of his observation of cities 
visited in that country, in the style which characterizes 
the description in his former volumes — of "Over the 
Ocean," and " Abroad Again." 

This is done with a desire to be of service to those 
who may come after the author, to whom much of the 
minutiae of description and many of the hints to tour- 



Vi PREFACE. 

ists may be of service. In fact, the author, while 
seekino- to avoid anything of the set guide-book char- 
acter in his volume, has endeavored to render it of 
service to travellers, by presenting facts respecting 
the localities visited, such as cannot be found in any 
guide-book. 

If in any degree he shall have succeeded in accom- 
plishing this object, and, possibly, in entertaining with 
pen-pictures those unable to visit the scenes described, 
he will be more than gratified. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Ubiquitous Americans — Methods of Travel — A Huge Steam- 
ship — Power and Dimensions — Life at Sea— Homage to 
Title — A Useful Institution — American Improvements — 
Liverpool and American Ideas 



CHAPTER II. 

A London Newspaper — Free Trade and Fair Trade — English 
Hotels — Cast-Iron Eules — Poor Clerks and Slow Servants 

— The Metropole and the Grand Hotels — Cold Reception 

— English Delay vs. American Impatience — How Not to 
Do It — Useless Officials — Clumsiness Personified — Cold 
Comfort and a Lean Larder 13 



CHAPTER III. 

The English Bill of Fare — American and British Menus Com- 
pared — Grand Hotel, London, and Fifth Avenue, New 
York — French Flummery — English Hotel Book-Keeping — 
A Most " Ex-twardinawy " Affair — Tyranny of Dress — 
Blunders of Travellers — Difference Between the English 
and American Language — American Drinks — Sherry 
Chickens — Astonishing a Publican — American Taverns 
and English Inns 25 



yiii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Letter from an Englishman — The Author's Reply— An Amer- 
ican Merchant's Views — Old-Fashioned Hotel Management 

— Lack of Modern Conveniences — Typical English Inn — 
Curious Mistake — English Shops — The Guinea Exaction — 
Fortunes of a Bibliopole 41 

CHAPTER V. 

A Trip to Eipon — Fountains Abbey — Charming Landscape 
Effects — Picturesque Ruins — Interesting Remains — Luxu- 
ries of a Monastery — The Great Hall — Ripon Cathedral — 
Superb Decorations — Robin Hood's Well — A Millennial 
Festival — An Antique Pageant — Old England Repre- 
sented 53 

CHAPTER VI. 

Furness Abbey — A Romantic Glen — A Powerful Community — 
An Abbot-King — Remains of Architectural Beauty — 
Superb East Window — The Tower and Scriptorium — The 
Guest-Hall — Suppression of the Abbey — A Memorable Mon- 
astery — Glories of the Past 65 

CHAPTER VII. 

A Look into Lincolnshire — Old Boston — John Cotton and his 
Work — St. Botolph's Church — Its History — A Beautiful 
Tower — Fine Stone Carving — Chancel and Ancient Stalls 

— The East Window — Cotton Chapel — The American 
Tablet — Dimensions of St. Botolph's — An Old English 
Town — Shodf riars' Hall — Modern Improvements .... 73 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Boston to Berlin — The American Exchange — A Staid German 
City — Preparations for Trip to Russia — Railway Fares, 
Guide-Books, and Refreshments — The Smoking Nuisance 

— Travelling Companions — Arrival at the Frontier — Pass- 
ports — Value of Deference to Officials — Baggage Exami- 
nation — Railroad Restaurants — Experiences on the Line 

— Arrival at St. Petersburg — Fine Hotel — Press Censor- 
ship — Russian Illiteracy — Shop-Keeper's Curious Signs . 83 



CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Nevski Prospect — Fine Accommodations and Fair Prices — 
Novel Sights — Street Shrines and Worshippers — Costumes 
and Droskies — Grand Squares and Splendid Buildings — 
Churches and Palaces — The St. Nicholas Bridge — Quays, 
Bridges, and Canals — The Russian Army — St. Isaac's 
Cathedral — The Grand Entrances — An Architectural Won- 
der — Barbaric Splendor — Exquisite Stone- Work, Gold, 
Silver, Malachite, Lapis-lazuli, Marble, and Porphyry in 
Profusion — The Religious Ceremonies — Begging Nuns 
and Monks — Income of Monasteries — Sales of Religious 
Goods 95 



CHAPTER X. 

Petersburg the Paris of Russia — Beautiful Bridges — Cathedral 
of Our Lady of Kazan — Cossacks of the Guard — Meeting 
of the Grand-Duke Michael — An Immense Cathedral — 
Captured Trophies — A Rich Screen — The Wonderful Por- 
trait — Seeing the Czar — Exchange Salutations at Ten 
Paces — An Unusual Piece of Good-Fortune — The Winter 
Palace — Peter the Great's Throne-Room — The Hermitage 
— A Wonderful Collection of Pictures — Fine Works of 
Great Artists — The Gallitzin Gallery — Priceless Archaeo- 
logical Treasures — The Grecian Helmet Holding the 
Owner's Head — Curious Antiques — Jewelry and Vases — 
Ancient Coins — A Feast for Artist, Archseologist, Anti- 
quary, or Numismatist 109 



CHAPTER XI. 

Peter the Great — Reverence of him in Russia — Relics of him 
and his Time — Collection of Snuff-Boxes — Gems and 
Jewelry — Antiques and Rich Rarities of Every Kind — 
The Green Vaults Rivalled — A Model Guide — A Hint to 
Tourists — An Amusing Case — Escorted to the Frontier — 
Politeness of the Police to an American Offender — Museum 
of Imperial Carriages — Peter the Great's Sledge — Luxuri- 



CONTENTS. 

cms Chariot of Catherine II. — Alexander II. 's Carriage as 
Smashed by Nihilist Bombs —The Unfossilized Remains of 
Mastodons from Siberia— Ethnographic Exhibition — Peter 
the Great's Monument .— Cathedral of St. Peter — Russian 
Saints — Catherine II. and her Monument — Peter the 
Great's Cottage — Peter's Summer Palace — Monastery of 
Alexander Nevski — Death-Bed of Peter — Altar-Screens — 
A Miniature Palace — Wonderful Wealth of Russian 
Churches — Peterhof Palace — The Imperial Summer 
Palace — The Royal Chapel — The Wonderful Amber Room 
— The Chinese Room —Room of Catherine II. — Prodigal 
Luxuriance — The Alexander Palace 121 



CHAPTER XII. 

From St. Petersburg to Moscow — A More Foreign Look — Mos- 
cow a Manufacturing City — Russian Cotton — Finances of 
the Country — Street Scenes in Moscow — Curious Vehicles 

— Monks and Nuns — Conflagration of Moscow — A City of 
Churches — The Kremlin — The Redeemer's Gate — The 
Big Bell — The Tower of Ivan — The Spoils of War — Na- 
poleon's Cannon — The Arsenal — Great Riding-School — 
Cathedral of the Assumption — A Picture Decorated with a 
Quarter of a Million Dollars Worth of Jewels — Heaps of 
Precious Stones — Church of Archangel Michael — Tomb of 
Ivan the Terrible — The Treasury — Armor and Trophies — 
The Crowns and Thrones of Departed Monarchs — Another 
Prodigal Display of Wealth— Coronation Robes and Plate 

— The Carriage Museum — The Patriarch's Sacristy — The 
Sacred Oil and How it is Made — House of the Holy Synod 

— Illimitable Wealth in Precious Stones — Masterpieces of 

Art 144 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Church in the Wood — St. Basil the Beautiful — Cathedral 
of St. Saviour — A New Memorial Temple — Grand Propor- 
tions, Rich Marbles, and Costly Carving — Visiting the 
Sanctum Sanctorum — Hew it was Accomplished — The 
Foundling Hospital — A Wonderful Institution — Training 
of the Inmates — Admirable System — Government Grant — 



CONTENTS. XI 

Illegitimacy in Eussia — The Ride to Sparrow Hills — Fine 
Panoramic View — Napoleon and Moscow — Recalling His- 
toric Events on the Spot of their Enactment — Russian 
Peasants — Siberian Exiles — Their March and Treatment . 16G 



CHAPTER XIV. 

An Escape from Siberia — The Story of a Political Exile — The 
Arrest — Farewell to Friends — The March — Guards, Food, 
and Treatment — A Disguised Friend — Plans of Deliver- 
ance — The Escape — Hardships and Risks in Reaching the 
Frontier — Narrow Escape — America Reached at Last — 
Another Exile — A Wood-Cutter in the Forests of Siberia — 
He Turns Out to be a Learned College Professor — Meets 
Two of his Former Pupils — The Sweets of Liberty . . . 181 



CHAPTER XV. 

Russian Post-Office Regulations — Simonof Monastery — A Once 
Powerful Institution — All Asleep — The Great Bell-Tower 

— Built for Defence — Wall and Watch-Towers — The 
Romanoff House — Antique Russian Style — Curious Relics 

— Work for Tourists — The Royal Palace — Standards of 
the Russian Army — Grand Apartments — Halls of St. 
George, St. Andrew, St. Alexander, and St. Catherine — 
The Granite Palace — The Red Staircase — A Historic Spot 

— Royal Banquet-Room — Mementos of Bonaparte's Inva- 
sion — Traveller's Stories of Nijni Novgorod Fair — The 
Railway Trip from Moscow to Nijni Novgorod 193 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Scenes at Nijni Novgorod — Miles of Wharves and Mountains of 
Merchandise — Russian Beggars — Religious Pilgrims — 
Fleets of Freight-Steamers — The Iron-Market — Russian 
Iron — Wool and Cotton Marts — The Tea-Quarter — Tea 
Testers and Tasters — Tartar Laborers — The Horse-Fair — 
Orloff Horses — Turkish and Persian Fabrics — Vast Collec- 
tion of Merchandise — The Turkish Quarter — Entering a 
Turkish Mosque — An Obliging Mollah — Mussulman Beg- 
gars — Precautions Against Fire 205 



x ii CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Cheap Quarter — Dust-Bin of the Empire — Raree-Shows and 
Cheap Exhibitions —Dance-Houses and Music-Hails — The 
Man-Eating Savages — A Cannibal Selling Photographs and 
Speaking English — A Surprised Showman — Tea-Drinking 
in Russia — Vodki-Shops — Business During the Fair — 
Russian Merchants Represented — The Daily Exchange — 
Russian Grain-Trade — A Clever Ruse — Russian Honesty 
— Drosky-Drivers — Shops — Travelling — Russia's Extent 
of Territory — Her Power and Possibilities 21S 



BRITONS AND MUSCOVITES; 



TRAITS OF TWO EMPIRES. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Americans are said to be an uneasy race, from 
the fact that, go where you will, in any quarter of the 
globe, you are sure to meet them, and that more fre- 
quently than the natives of any other country. 

It is a well known fact that London, Paris, Vienna, 
Switzerland, Rome, and other European localities 
depend on American visitors during the travelling 
season for increasing the business of their retail trades- 
men, their hotels and travel routes. Indeed, a falling- 
off of American travel, owing to business panic or any 
other reason, is noted at once in European capitals and 
the consequent loss of trade commented on, both by 
tradesmen and the press. Again, the investigating 
spirit of the American, his thirst for something new, 
his desire to see something beyond what others have 
seen, to go farther, run greater risks, travel more miles 
or at greater speed than others have done before him, 
sends him to the uttermost parts of the earth and 
causes him to pervade the world generally. 

American travellers are as plentiful all over Europe 
as flies at a sugar barrel. They wander through Eng- 
land's castles and abbeys, throw money away prodi- 

1 



2 UBIQUITOUS AMERICANS. 

gaily in Paris, applaud at bull fights in Spain, secure 
the best rooms in the Swiss hotels to the disgust of the 
plaid-suited and thick-shod Englishmen, scare their 
guides half out of their wits by their acts at the crater 
of Vesuvius, abuse custodians of the Vatican at Rome, 
ride like mad through the streets of St. Petersburg, 
charter unnecessary donkeys in Cairo, pay double 
price for curiosities at Thebes, get into difficulties in 
the crooked streets of Damascus, shoot alligators in 
Florida, dash in carioles over the mountain roads of 
Norway, meander through Mexico, steam along the 
gold-laden rocks of Alaska, and elbow their way round 
the streets of Melbourne. 

In fact, Dr. Livingstone, the African explorer, who 
fancied that his was the only pale face among the 
ebony-hued natives of what he supposed was unknown 
Africa, must have been astonished, in that terra incog- 
nita, at seeing an individual advance with the Amer- 
ican flag and the greeting : — 

"Dr. Livingstone, I believe." 

The Americans, by their continual pushing about, 
have done much to improve means of travel, to intro- 
duce conveniences, comforts, and facilities of their in- 
vention, often temporarily used by foreigners to please 
their visitors, but finally permanently adopted for 
themselves. 

Notwithstanding it is now as much the fashion to 
examine and praise new American inventions as it used 
to be to decry and abuse them, yet there is something 
so clumsy and awkward in the English manner of try- 
ing to do anything after the American plan as to make 
Americans who suffer by it wish it had never been 
attempted. On the other hand, the pertinacity with 
which the English cling to customs obsolete elsewhere 



METHODS OF TRAVEL. 3 

drives the bright, wide-awake Yankee, who is detained, 
hampered, and annoyed thereby, almost to the verge of 
desperation. 

It is so much the fashion to travel nowadays, and 
there are so many methods by which what were for- 
merly long, costly, and somewhat dangerous tours have 
been rendered enjoyable, cheap, and safe pleasure-trips, 
that almost all persons of moderate means can make or 
have made extensive tours at home or abroad. The 
Cook and Gaze tourist tickets, in Europe, and the better 
and perfectly managed Raymond excursions, here in 
the United States, remove a greater part of the burden 
and bother of travel, and really give to the tourist 
nearly all his time for the sight-seeing and enjoyment 
of his trip without the annoyances of ticket-buying, 
luggage-checking, and hotel arrangements, which nec- 
essarily fall to one's lot when travelling independently 
upon his own account. 

Nevertheless, the latter method has its advantages to 
those who have the time and means to use it. The 
English are notorious grumblers as tourists, and 
prone to cavil at everything that does not exactly 
suit them ; but if there is any one country in which 
the average American has reason to expect so much 
advance in the way of convenience and accommoda- 
tion to the traveller, and finds so little, it is England. 

Going over the ocean to-day in one of the great 
Cunard steamers is, however, very different and more 
speedy than it was twenty years ago. Then the author 
thought the voyage good and speedy in the old side- 
wheeler Asia, which accomplished the journey between 
Boston and Queenstown in twelve days ! Now from 
the stepping on board the great steamer Umbria, at 
her pier in New York, to the stepping off at Liverpool, 



4 A LOOK AT THE LEVIATHAN. 

including the stop at Queenstown, the time was found 
to be exactly seven days and five hours — about half 
that covered by the first mentioned voyage. 

A look at this huge specimen of naval architecture 
at the wharf, while exciting the wonder of the behold- 
er, somehow or other gives him an impression prejudi- 
cial to her safety in a storm or heavy sea. You wonder 
if it may not be difficult or dangerous to manage such 
a huge affair, if something will not give out to render 
the leviathan an unmanageable mass at the mercy of 
the waves. A single voyage in rough weather, how- 
ever, will change one's doubts into the belief, as it did 
mine, that this giant of navigation is a paragon of 
safety and comfort, as far as comfort can ever be said 
to be experienced by those who cross the ocean. 

Owing to the size of the ship and the enormous 
power of her machinery, there is steadiness to her in 
comparatively rough seas that in smaller vessels would 
cause rolling and pitching to a marked degree. Then, 
the wide stairways, spacious, very spacious cabins, 
grand dining-hall, music-hall, ladies' private cabin, 
smoking and card room and servants' cabin, and 
withal the great promenade deck, broad, wide, and 
long — the length of the ship is very nearly one-tenth 
of a mile — make a fair-weather passage on one of 
these ocean greyhounds luxurious travelling indeed. 

Ah! but how is it in rough and stormy weather? 

Well, the ship, by reason of her immense power of 
machinery, does not remain long in the locality where 
the storm prevails ; it is not with these ships as was 
the case with sailing vessels and slow steamers which 
made but a few miles a da} 7 and consequently remained 
long in the radius of a storm. This big ship, in a 
storm that sent waves away over her upper deck and 



CUTTING THROUGH THE STORM-BELT. 5 

the spray to the top of her enormous funnels, rolled 
and was unsteady, and the weather sent two-thirds of 
her passengers to their state-rooms sea-sick ; but she 
kept right on, cut right through storm, wave, and tem- 
pest, on, on ; — no tacking or stopping or finding that 
we were detained by the storm, but when the steward, 
with a cup of porridge, staggered to our state-room 
the next morning, it was with the cheerful intelligence 
that the run for the day just ended was 245 miles, and 
that ten hours more would carry us entirely clear of 
the storm-belt there prevailing. Best of all, his pre- 
diction was fulfilled. 

Though we were all day below, the steady and rapid 
progress of the great ship, and the comparatively little 
effect which wind and wave had upon her as she faced, 
encountered, and overcame both with such ease, gave 
us a feeling of safety which we could not have so fully 
experienced in a ship of less power, and, we may per- 
haps add, less skilfully managed. 

The dimensions of such ships as the Etruria and 
Umbria, of the Cunard line, fairly stagger those un- 
acquainted with the size to which steamship-building 
has been carried in this nineteenth century. They are, 
iu fact, the natural results of all that lias been done in 
the development of ocean-going steaming, especially 
Atlantic steaming, for the past thirty years. 

The gradual development of the lines of ocean-going 
steamers to the proportions of the yacht, combined 
with the adoption of well tested new methods, have 
reduced the designing of high speed to matters of cer- 
tainty. This ship has made the trip to Queenstown in 
six days, fourteen hours, twenty minutes, and on an- 
other occasion in six days, eleven hours, and ten min- 
utes, and it is expected to bridge the Atlantic in six 



b TREMENDOUS PROPORTIONS. 

days. The engines of this ship are a magnificent sight 
and in perfection of simplicity ; they are said to be the 
most powerful in use. 

The great breadth of the vessel has provided an 
abundance of room round their tremendous propor- 
tions, and the sight of the massive cranks revolving 
with perfect smoothness and regularity, at a speed of 
sixty-seven revolutions a minute, is interesting and 
wonderful. The horse-power of the engines here 
reached is something over one thousand two hundred 
and fifty, which is a trifle over the minimum, the max- 
imum not having been reached at the time the author 
made his voyage. 

The Umbria is 520 feet long, 57 feet broad, 41 feet 
deep, and of over eight thousand tonnage. She is the 
largest steamer afloat. The City of Rome is forty feet 
longer, but the Umbria is five feet broader and four feet 
deeper, and it is in depth and breadth that sea-sick 
people find comfort and consolation, and the steadiness 
of this ship is a most agreeable feature. The great 
breadth of the vessel gives room for the spacious stair- 
cases I have alluded to, which are as broad as those 
of a first-class hotel, and the means of access from one 
deck to the other are numerous as well as broad. The 
great saloon, extending from side to side, is 76 feet 
long and nine feet high, and is lighted from a cupola 
skylight above, which also lights a sitting or music 
room above, through the centre of which the light de- 
scends. At night the whole is lighted by incandescent 
electric lights, placed near the ceiling so that the view 
is not obstructed, thus replacing the odorous and 
even dangerous oil-lamp so loathed by qualmish pas- 
sengers. 

I do not recall the number of state-rooms in the 



CAPACITY OF THE CMBRIA. 7 

Umbria, but she can carry 720 first-class passengers, 
and on the trip we made in her there were btib first- 
class passengers, yet the size of the ship was such that 
it was difficult to realize that there were half that num- 
ber on board, except in smooth weather, at dinner-time, 
when they were brought together at the two dinners 
in the great cabin, one set dining at 5 and the other at 
6 P. M. I mention details respecting the size and ac- 
commodations of this great vessel as illustrating what 
has thus far been accomplished to render the journey 
across the ocean comfortable as well as speedy. 

The lines of the ship are unusually fine ; she does 
not by any means look her size, and the disturbance of 
the water-way when at her greatest speed is compara- 
tively trivial. The two funnels, upon which eighteen 
extra braces were put during one of our experiences 
of a two-days blow, are gigantic affairs, and three ordi- 
nary-sized men could stand one above the other 
within their diameter. The upper deck extends the 
whole breadth of the ship, obstructed only by the nec- 
essary hatchways and twelve life-boats, a space of 300 
feet by 57 feet. 

Everything is on a gigantic scale as compared with 
other steamers I have voyaged in ; here was a huge 
air-pump that forced fresh air along the whole length 
of the corridors on the lower decks, through iron 
shafts perforated with holes an inch in diameter and 
two feet apart. By the force of this artificial current 
the ventilation is continuous and uniform in all 
weathers, and none of what is known as the between- 
deck odor is observable. The huge steam-boilers, the 
hull of the vessel, the crank-shaft and the more vital 
parts of the engine are all of steel. A feature of the 
great boilers that I had never seen before is that they 



\ 



8 NEEDED REFORM. 

were double-ended, that is, they had a set of furnaces 
at each end. 

As steamers have increased in size and speed, the 
boiler has grown in size ; but it has grown in circum- 
ference, not in length. The Umbria consumes three 
hundred tons of coal per day, and the total of her 
crew, including firemen, sailors, stewards, coal-passers, 
etc., is two hundred and eighty men. Although so 
much has been done in the past score of years as 
regards speed, convenience, and comfort, yet in the 
latter characteristic there is still much room for im- 
provement in the matter of cuisine and attendance, 
and, I doubt not, it will be closely studied. 

The majority of people making the voyage are sea- 
sick, at least for a portion of the time, and, though 
having the best of attention from stewards and stew- 
ardesses, could be still better served by a little depart- 
ure from the old, established way of doing things, which 
has prevailed so many years on the ships of the Cunard 
line. For instance, the hours for meals were : breakfast, 
8 o'clock ; lunch, 1 to 2 ; dinner at 5. Thus the patient 
or the hungry convalescent must wait from 8 to 5 for 
a hot meal, for at lunch only cold meats are served. 
One wakes very early in the morning at sea, and it is 
a terrible time to wait until 8 o'clock for the warm 
breakfast. Again, the best of beef-tea, oatmeal-por- 
ridge, Oolong tea, and hot gruel ought to be kept on 
tap at all hours, and just as easily attainable by sea- 
sick passengers as liquors or wines. 

A writer on ocean-voyages has written at length 
against passengers being obliged to furnish their own 
steamer-chairs, but this feature I think a good one as 
it enables one to provide for his own exclusive use 
such as he may desire. The price of this exclusive 






AMUSEMENTS OX BOARD. 9 

comfort is very small, and the opportunities, on a big 
ship like the Umbria, of removing one's couch or seat 
from point to point of observation, and always being 
sure of it, are many and afford entertainment to the 
voyager. 

We found on this trip the same old amusements for 
passing away time that have prevailed for a score of 
years and more. The tossing of rope rings over an 
upright stake about ten feet distant from the pitcher ; 
shuffleboard, or the thrusting of a sort of big checker 
or draught by means of a gigantic pudding-stick at a 
chalked-out diagram on the deck ; and pitching pennies 
into a pint pot. In the smoking-room, the games of 
chess and checkers, whist, poker, and other games of 
cards, drew a strong representation from the male por- 
tion of the passengers, and caused a change of owner- 
ship of a very respectable number of sovereigns and 
bank-notes. Of course, the usual concert that is 
always given for that English Marine Orphan Asylum, 
that must be accumulating a handsome income from 
ocean-travellers by this time, took place on our voyage 
over; and the affair, being run by an English passenger, 
was conducted in true English style, by calling with 
some ceremony a titled Englishman to take " the chair/' 
Englishmen at a meeting, a private concert, and, 
I believe, at a sewing circle, if they ever had such an 
assemblage, always contrive to have some Sir Peregrine 
Poke or Lord Addington Adlehed on hand to " kindly 
consent to take the chair." Those who are present 
find that, besides having this fact reported in the news- 
papers or talked about in certain circles, the object of 
selecting such a chairman seems often to result in the 
obtaining of some one who can the most successfully 
muddle the whole affair. 



10 ENGLISH SERVILITY. 

The author recalls on one of his voyages, when we 
assembled to hear the amateur performance, vocal and 
instrumental, of several clever people who were on 
board, that the English gentleman who engineered the 
affair announced that "Sir Benjamin Baucher, K. C. 
B., had kindly consented to take the chair on this 
occasion," which the aforesaid Sir Benjamin, after 
being approached, did, looking quite red and uncom- 
fortable. However, in a sort of beery bass, he ex- 
plained the object of the charity, by aid of his prompter, 
and then proceeded to announce the performers set 
down in the programme, but, not having previously 
perused it, he announced some of the performers in 
the wrong places and mispronounced the names of 
the others. But the sea was smooth, passengers all 
well and in good-humor, the performances clever, and 
the usual toll taken up for the hospital was very 
respectable in amount. 

It was a little bit of harmless exultation on our part 
to pass, just before entering Queenstown harbor, a 
steamer (the Britannic) that had left New York two 
days previous to our sailing, and to beat her in gaining 
port in such aggravating style. 

The American Exchange in Europe, under the man- 
agement of Mr. H. F. Gillig, is of great service to 
American travellers, and saves them a vast deal of 
trouble and annoyance. It has offices at London, 
Liverpool, Paris, and Berlin ; and at each place, 
although somewhat of a seasoned tourist, I found its 
service to be of great advantage and at quite a small 
expense. At Liverpool its agent meets you as you 
disembark, has a carriage ready to convey you to rooms 
which you may have ordered in advance (as you should 
do, through him) at the hotel. You leave your keys 



A USEFUL INSTITUTION. 11 

with him at the landing, and he expeditiously gets your 
baggage through the Custom House, and saves a world 
of fussy annoyances that it is pleasant to avoid in your 
anxiety to exchange the bustle and confusion attendant 
upon landing for a "good square meal" on shore and 
a wide and steady bed in which to sleep. 

There is nothing puts the life into one after the sea- 
voyage more than a good dinner after getting on shore, 
for it is without that indescribable ship-flavor, — half- 
way style of serving, lack of heat in vegetables, and 
other concomitants that characterize ship-cooking, — 
and is, of course, a more legitimate meal in all respects 
than those served on shipboard. 

In a day or two, with digestive apparatus in good 
order, lungs filled with land-breezes, and sea-legs off, 
you are in condition to note the inferiority of English 
hotels in general, the great advantage possessed by the 
average American workman, employe, or day-laborer, 
over his English rival, in quickness of apprehension, in 
the adoption and use of an improvement, in the belief 
that anything may be improved, or that anything that 
is new can for any reason whatever be better than that 
which is old. In fact, the average Englishman seems 
to cling to the past, and look backwards, while the 
American is eager to leave even the present well 
enough for something in advance that may be an 
improvement. 

Many of the American improvements now in use in 
England in machinery, manufactures, hotel-keeping, 
and travelling, though at first forced upon them and 
after long and persistent effort reluctantly adopted, 
now, after having come into common use, are claimed 
as English inventions. 

Liverpool has changed but little since I saw it, seven 



12 LIVERPOOL. 

years ago ; it has the same well paved streets, general 
seaport aspect in the business part of the cit} T , and 
there is at the great hotels during the summer season 
that ever-changing rush of arrival and departure of 
American travellers by the great steamship lines. 
There through its streets is now laid the tramway or 
horse-railroad track, with double-storied cars crowded 
with passengers running over it. These tramway- 
tracks, it will be recollected, were torn up by the indig- 
nant people, and an injunction or something of the kind 
laid, twenty-five years ago, upon George Francis Train, 
to prevent his placing what was then called " this ob- 
struction to public travel " in the street. 

Train was clear-headed enough in those days ; his 
only error of judgment was that he was fifteen years 
ahead of the average English intellect in appreciating 
an improvement in transportation. It was no novelty 
even then, for horse-railroads had been successfully 
running in America ten years previously. But in those 
days nothing American was thought to be of value ; 
now, if a grand improvement is spoken of, a new inven- 
tion referred to, or a superior article of goods exhibited, 
the first question asked by the English questioner is, 
" Is it American ? " It is gratifying to find not only 
that articles bearing the American stamp now command 
the readiest attention in England, but also that many 
articles of American manufacture are dispkryed in the 
shop-windows, conspicuously labelled as such and com- 
peting successfully with similar goods of English 
make. 



CHAPTER II. 

Any person that visited England a score or more 
years ago, and who goes there to-day, cannot fail to ob- 
serve what enormous advance the United States has 
made in its manufactured products. In many of these 
we seem to have marched forward with giant strides, 
while our competitor has remained comparatively sta- 
tionary ; in other words, our protective tariff has 
enabled us to equal and rival him, as in the production 
of Bessemer-steel rails, or to outstrip him completely, 
as in the manufacture of watches. 

Though I do not propose to write a tariff essay, I 
cannot leave the matter without alluding to the strong 
feeling that prevails, and which is gaining strength 
every day, against free trade in England. 

The Daily Telegraph of London, a paper of very 
large circulation, published, in 1887, a series of letters 
from large and well known manufacturers, in various 
parts of England, calling attention to the fact that 
their business is being seriously injured, and in some 
cases ruined, by the influx of goods from some of the 
continental countries. Against these the labor, and the 
superior facilities of English manufacturers, could not 
compete, and some protection Avas called for against the 
free flooding of the English markets with foreign goods, 
and attention directed to the fact that, owing to the 
American tariff, that market was not only closed to 
them, but American manufactured goods were displac- 
ing theirs in British colonies. An ably edited weekly 

13 



14 FREE TRADE AND FAIR TRADE. 

paper, entitled Fair Trade, published in London, was 
an outspoken opponent of English free trade as it 
then existed. 

Our recently formed Protection League in New York 
has not yet, I believe, followed the example of the Cob- 
den Club, and sent over pamphlets advocating the pro- 
tective policy, to be distributed to voters on the eve of 
elections, or put up money prizes at England's educa- 
tional schools for the best essa} T s on the American 
Protective Tariff. Such a course might cause them 
over there to slowly consider the matter and to put a 
tariff upon American goods, perhaps by the time we 
get strong enough to manufacture all the goods Eng- 
land and the rest of the world wants, tariff or no tariff. 
Then how we should scold about England's Chinese 
wall and advocate freedom of trade in the admission of 
all American manufactured goods into British ports ! 

The change in the Liverpool hotels during the last 
twenty years has been great, although gradual. The 
fault-finding of Americans, their persistent demands, 
coupled with their readiness to pay liberally, seem to 
have had some little effect upon the English hotel- 
manager. Pie is gradually being forced to admit that 
he should try to conform to the demands, wishes, and 
desires of his patrons, and not endeavor to make them 
conform to his rules and regulations, even if such a 
course necessitates a departure from methods in use by 
his fathers before him, and now obsolete outside of his 
own island. The introduction of elevators and gas- 
lights into English hotels seems to have been fought 
with the most obstinate pertinacity, and is successfully 
opposed even now in several of the great hotels of 
London, as well as in York and other equally large 
In like manner has the heating of 



ENGLISH HOTELS. 15 

halls or rooms by hot-air furnaces or steam been kept 
out to this clay, to the positive discomfort of guests, as 
I can attest from my own experience during the raw, 
cold, and damp weather that prevails in London during 
the late fall season. 

One obstacle to improvement in English hotels in 
large cities is the fact that they are owned by stock- 
companies, who manage them in that ponderous Eng- 
lish way in which they conduct a coal-mine or cotton- 
mill, with a force of men, from manager down to boots 
and porter, acting under a set of cast-iron rules and 
regulations laid down by the board of directors, men of 
little or no experience, and with few ideas as regards 
the demands of a modern first-class hotel. 

The clerical force of these houses is largely composed 
of men who do their duties mechanically, and simply 
serve their number of hours and then go off to their 
homes in the suburbs, giving place to their successors, 
and in turn take their places when their time comes 
round for them to return, but with apparently no sort 
of interest in what has been done or what arrange- 
ments made during their hours off duty, using no sort 
of judgment, and utterly careless and indifferent as to 
the convenience and comforts of the guest. 

If any one desires to know the value of the bright, 
alert, well posted, and much abused American hotel 
clerk, let him sample a few of the ignoramuses that are 
placed in that position in the great London hotels. It 
was a notorious fact that pleasure-seeking Americans 
rushed over the ocean in such swarms at the close of 
our civil war as to completely crowd up all the London 
houses. Their demands for enlarged accommodations 
were such as to cause the erection of the Langham, 
Westminster Palace Hotel and others. The manage- 



16 IGNORANT CLERKS AND SLOW SERVANTS. 

ment of these English hotels was exasperating to the 
last degree to Americans, from the fact of their pre- 
tending so much and performing so little. 

Large rooms and no gas-light, ignorant clerks and 
slow servants, a roundabout, slow-coach, and red-tape 
style of doing things, not at all in keeping with the 
quick despatch prevailing in America. The Langham 
Hotel at first became a resort for Americans. It had 
spacious drawing and smoking rooms, a fine dining- 
room, good cuisine, and was in a very desirable locality. 
Always full of Americans during the travelling season, 
the attaches had the impertinent independence to tell 
aggravated guests who complained of imperfect attend- 
ance, or who threatened to give up their rooms, that it 
made no difference — other Americans would be along 
to take them. And no special effort was made to 
please them or to cater to their tastes. 

This, however, was several years ago. The influx of 
American travel and American dollars has continued, 
and it has dawned upon the sluggish British intellect 
that it would be best to encourage and not retard this 
influx ; so new hotels, like the Metropole and Grand, 
were projected and built, and a third, still larger, is pro- 
jected. The Langham no longer turns a cold shoulder 
to complaints, nor is it independent of American trav- 
ellers, but actually advertises for them and solicits 
their patronage. " Think of that, Master Brooke ! " 

The two hotels in Liverpool most affected in 188T 
by Americans were the Adelphi and Grand. The 
former is much improved and enlarged over the old- 
time affair ; the greatest objection is that which at- 
taches to most large English hotels, of contriving the 
entrances so that the lower halls and corridors are 
perfect sluiceways of cold, raw, and damp air, chilly 



A COLD RECEPTION. 17 

and penetrating in early spring and fall, when Ameri- 
cans most frequent them. Then, in lieu of a warm, 
steam-heated drawing-room for guests, they provide a 
little, contracted, old-fashioned parlor, at one end of 
which is a fireplace containing two lumps of soft coal 
the size of brick-bats, that give out an enormous quan- 
tity of smoke and no heat, so that in cool weather, if 
you desire to keep warm in them, you must do as I did 
— wear j^our overcoat. 

The great dining-room was heated (?) in a similar 
manner by a few lumps of coal in distant grates. This 
may have accounted for the action of two young Eng- 
lishmen who came in one day and took a table near 
several others occupied by American ladies and gentle- 
men, and sat without removing their hats after order- 
ing their dinner. This being observed by an American 
at one of the tables, he bade the waiter bring him an 
umbrella, which he immediately hoisted above his 
table. The other offenders against good manners took 
the hint and removed their hats, their act being fol- 
lowed by the immediate furling of the umbrella. At 
one of the Liverpool hotels the introduction of the 
"lift" or elevator was obstinately opposed, I under- 
stand, until a progressive stockholder agreed to put it 
in at his own expense. 

Here we found the same exasperating English delay 
in responding to bells rung by guests. Chamber-maids 
for each floor, instead of bell-boys, attend to that service, 
or pretend to attend to it, for one to whom I gave an 
order at 10 p.m. went off duty, her time having arrived 
to do so, without telling her successor to fill my order, 
and, after waiting a long time for her return, her suc- 
cessor was by the second summons brought to give me 
that information and consume another fifteen minutes 



18 EXASPERATING DELAYS. 

in executing the order, muting the time in all about 
three-quarters of an hour -jfe perform "a service that 
would have been rendered in an American hotel in ten 
minutes at longest. 

It really was not of much use to complain of such 
service (you are charged for it in your bill) to the 
woman occupying the little den, on the first floor, where 
the register and keys were kept, for she remarked that 
10 P. M. was rather late for the order (it was for a pitcher 
of water) and the chamber-maid was probably tired ! 
The manager — there is always a "manager" at these 
big English hotels, the title a misnomer from the fact 
that there appears to be no management in them — the 
manager comes out of his private office, smirks, smiles, 
and washes his hands with invisible soap, is quite 
indignant at our complaint, and begins at once to 
summon seven or eight chamber-maids, from various 
parts of the house, to account for the affair, creating an 
excitement and loud talk in the entrance-hall, from 
which we were only too glad to withdraw. 

It is surprising that, in all these years in which 
Americans have visited London in swarms, there should 
not have been one great hotel built and managed upon 
the American plan, or that some of them should not 
change their cumbersome methods and adopt a few of 
the American customs in dealing with so large a pro- 
portion of guests of that nationality. 

When the Grand Hotel in London was built, it was 
announced that such was to be the case, and English 
people who watched its large proportions when it was 
in course of erection gravely stated that it was to be a 
great Yankee caravansary, in which no English people 
would think of living. I noticed, however, during my 
stay that as large a proportion of English as Americans 
made use of it. 



A GREAT "YANKEE" CARAVANSARY. 19 

This house, which looks out upon one side of Trafal- 
gar Square, is built upon a sort of semi-circular lot, 
and has the appearance of a large open fan. The 
rooms in the stories above the first floor are of that 
shape, the wider part of the room being at the two 
windows, the space narrowing off towards, the door. If 
you have a fire in your sleeping-room, as I did, even in 
what is deemed a good-sized apartment it is so uncom- 
fortably near the foot-board of the bed as to afford you 
the opportunity of shuffling off the mortal coil like 
John Rogers — with warm feet. 

The annoyances here to Americans are many. Chief 
among them is the number of persons employed, and 
the gauntlet the guest must run to gain information, 
be served, or find any one who has the slightest knowl- 
edge of anything out of his individual department. 
Thus the man who receives your letters and room-keys 
is utterly ignorant respecting where a theatre is, at 
what hour its performance begins, or respecting the 
arrival or departure of any train from London. The 
man who assigns you a room can tell you the name of 
a good hotel in scarcely a town or city on the island, — 
and so on. 

When I arrived at the Grand Hotel, in damp, dismal, 
cold November, the fresh-air or ventilating mania was 
prevailing as usual. 

Arrived at the entrance of the house, the gilt-capped 
porter was at the cab-door to let me out ; he summoned 
the house-porter to take my luggage ; another porter, 
with gilt-striped pantaloons, opened the valve-doors, 
and held them open till I came in with my luggage* 
and admitted at the same time a full rush of chill wind 
into the lower hall, and through the opened doors, and 
into the great reception and reading room, containing 



20 

numerous ladies and gentlemen. Next I went to 
the room-clerk, where names were registered. Great 
books of plans of the rooms were spread out upon 
desks and tables, and the office had the appearance of 
the headquarters of a major-general in active cam- 
paign. 

My rooms had been engaged in advance, but it was 
now nine o'clock in the evening, and the day-clerk not 
on hand, and his successor, as usual, was oblivious 
respecting the matter, which had been arranged two 
days previously. Finally, after various explanations 
and the production of the day hotel-clerk's letter ac- 
knowledging that the apartments would be ready, some 
were assigned me. All this time the ladies of the party 
were out in the cold hall, by the main entrance, which 
the uniformed door-opener contrived to keep as uncom- 
fortable as possible, by holding open the doors for 
those who wished egress or ingress, for a minute or two 
before they could possibly reach them. There was no 
more need for the fellow at the door than for a light- 
ning-rod on a wash-tub. 

The corridors and halls above the second floor were 
poorly lighted, and unhealed ; and made more chilly 
and uncomfortable in damp, foggy November weather 
by the windows being kept down at the top. Thus 
} T ou step from the atmosphere of your room, made com- 
fortable by a fire, out into entries and hallways with a 
difference of fifteen to twenty degrees of temperature. 
The " lift," which carries you to the upper stories, is 
contrived with swinging doors, which the man who 
runs it is obliged to push open. He must also step 
out at every landing before the passenger can leave or 
enter. The automatic slide door, as was the case of the 
" lift " itself, will finall} T , after years of persuasion of 



CLUMSY MANAGEMENT. 21 

the " board of direction," be probably solemnly voted 
in by them, at some regular meeting, where the motion 
will be duly made and seconded. 

Besides the porter, or man outside the lower door to 
call cabs and receive guests, there were two more 
within, including the individual who opened the doors 
and acted as a sort of champion guest-cooler and pneu- 
monia-promoter. Then, there was a luggage-porter in 
one corner ; another, who received parcels for guests, 
in another ; on the other side of the passage, a boy to 
change money and sell stamps, and further on the room- 
office, with the great plans and enormous bother of de- 
termining your rooms, requiring as much ceremony as 
if selecting an architectural plan for an eight-story 
mansion. 

An inner office held the manager ; next outside was 
a cashier, — of course, he knew nothing except how to 
receive money and receipt bills; then another small 
enclosure held two men, who kept the room-keys and let- 
ters ; then the coat room ; then, at the door of the great 
breakfast-room, stood a large, solemn, uniformed indi- 
vidual, whose sole duty was to bow when any one ap- 
proached, and hold the door wide-open when any one 
went in or out the room, to the infinite annoyance of 
those inside, who were deluged with cold draughts 
of air, coming in from the other great doors opening 
into the street, held open b}^ the other supernumerary. 

All these men were scattered round so thickly, from 
the portal to the elevator, that you almost fell over 
them, and in attempting to get information of any kind 
you were referred from one ignoramus to another until 
driven to the verge of madness by the dense stupidity 
prevailing where you should find quick perception, 
certainly ordinary intelligence. 



22 "PLEASE SHUT THAT DOOR." 

"But, then, the English are not an inquisitive people I 
They don't ask questions, like you Americans, and 
they have certain set customs, that it is hard for them 
to change," exclaimed a good-natured Briton to me. 

It is not only that, but in the Anglo-American hotels 
they have great reluctance to depart in the least degree 
from a certain set of rules which they appear to have 
laid down, even if such departure is demanded by 
guests, and will contribute to their comfort. Com- 
plaint to any subordinate short of the manager, re- 
specting an open window, a smoky chimney, an expiring 
fire in the public room, is treated with supreme indif- 
ference. The management evidently arranges the 
conduct of the establishment not with the idea that the 
hotel is to be managed to give the largest degree of 
satisfaction to the guests, but that the guests are to 
conform, in their comings, goings, and orders, to the 
satisfaction of the management. 

"Please to shut that door!" said a shivering Amer- 
ican to one of the head waiters in the dining-room, 
pointing to the open portal. 

" Door, sir ? yes, sir," and he hurried off in another 
direction. 

The American rose from the breakfast-table and 
walked to the door, the swinging sides of which had 
been propped open, to save the great creature in gold- 
banded cap and breeches the trouble of opening and 
shutting them. 

" Shut this door ! " 

" Er — I beg yer pardin ? " 

" Shut this door, it's too cold," said the speaker, kick- 
ing out the chocks, and letting the doors swing together. 

" I beg yer pardin, but — er — the manager told me to 
keep' em hopen." 



THE MENU. 23 

" How long ago ? " 

" Oh, months ago, sir." 

" I thought so. Now I tell you to close them and 
keep them closed except when people desire to come 
in or go out, for I don't intend to freeze as well as 
starve while I'm here." 

The doors were not, after this dialogue, propped 
open again. 

The meals at these great hotels are : breakfast from 
8 to 10 : 30 ; luncheon from 12 : 30 to 3 , and dinner 
from 6 to 8:30. 

The American who has been accustomed to the 
luxurious first-class hotels of New York, Boston, Phila- 
delphia, Chicago, in fact any of the great cities of his 
own country, where abundance, variety, prompt ser- 
vice, and admirable cuisine are the rule, is simply 
astounded that there should be here, in the great 
metropolis of the world, such a comparatively meagre 
bill of fare, so little variety from day to day, and so 
close a calculation as to quantity served. 

At breakfast he finds two kinds of fish, sole and 
whiting, and for hot meats perhaps steak with ham 
and eggs. The next day the fare was varied by 
leaving out the sole for another kind of fish and sub- 
stituting chops for the steak, with the addition of 
sausages. As a favor, I got chops on the beefsteak 
day, after bribing the waiter, — the steak was one of 
the English sole-leather kind. 

The thought of a Fifth Avenue Hotel breakfast bill 
of fare, beginning with fruit, grapes, oranges, pears, 
and including five or six kinds of fish, eggs in every 
known form of cooking, pork and mutton chops, lamb 
cutlets, broiled chicken, oysters, steak, potatoes in 
every form — but why go on? That breakfast bill of 



24 PARSIMONY OF THE HOTEL-KEEPERS. 

fare would drive an English hotel-keeper crazy, to say- 
nothing of the menu for dinner. 

Why, a Fifth Avenue Hotel dinner, if served in one 
of these London hotels at their rate of charge and 
their style of serving, would cost fifteen dollars a head 
and require ten hours between o} T sters and coffee. 

Some of the courses at the Grand and Metropole 
were ludicrous in the extreme. Fancy being solemnly 
provided with a hot, clean plate, and, after waiting 
patiently till the dish reached you by the table cThote 
waiter, rinding that the whole course was string-beans, 
and, the spoonful that you took being disposed of, 
you were next served with another course, say of 
lettuce or some other cheap grass stuff. 

The great English hotels are very liberal in cheap 
greens, but economical in serving good roast solids that 
cost much. Who ever ate a good roast turkey dinner 
with cranberry jelly, mashed brown potatoes, celery, 
squash, sweet potatoes, macaroni, and three or four 
other side-dishes of appetizing vegetables in an Eng- 
lish hotel? 



CHAPTER III. 

Much as the good living of England is vaunted, it 
cannot approach the American. Its principal staples 
are beef, mutton, and chops, ham (with eggs) for meats, 
sole and turbot for fish, sour gooseberry pie or rasp- 
berry tarts for "sweets," with a hunk of cheese and a 
few grapes by way of dessert, and, as an irate Yankee 
once said, the damnable frequency with which these 
are set before one at last makes one's very gorge rise 
with disgust at the sight. It will be understood that 
the author's criticism is chiefly levelled at hotels. For 
the sake of comparison, I give below the breakfast and 
dinner bills of fare of the Grand Hotel, London, and 
of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, of New York. 

The Grand Hotel, London. 

MEXU DU DEJEUXER. 
FISH. 

Fried Soles. Fresh Herrings. Finnan Haddock. 

ENTREES. 

Ham and Fried Eggs. Scrambled Eggs aux Fines Herbes. 

Stewed Kidneys and Mushrooms. 
Home-made Sausages. Mutton Chops. 

Potatoes a la Maitre d' Hotel. 

SUNDRIES. 

Oatmeal Porridge. Cold Viands. 

Table d'Hote Breakfast, consisting of Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, or Choco- 
late, including the Dishes mentioned above, 3s. 6d. 



26 



A COMPARISON OF MENUS. 



Fruit. 



Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. 
BREAKFAST. 
Radishes. Cucumbers. 



FISH. 



Fried Codfish, with pork. 
Broiled Salt Mackerel. 
Broiled Fresh Mackerel. 
Broiled Shad. Hashed Fish. 



Salt Codfish, with cream. 
Smoked Salmon. 
Fried Smelts. 
Digby Herrings. Fish-balls. 



Beefsteak. 
Yeal Cutlet. 
Calf's Liver. 
Mutton Kidneys. 



BROILED. 

Mutton Chops. 
Pork Chops. 
Pig's feet, breaded. 
Smoked Bacon. 



Lamb Chops. 
Ham. 

Pickled Tripe. 
Honey-comb Tripe. 



FEIED. 

Pig's Feet, breaded. Oysters, with crumbs. 

Pickled Tripe. Calf's Liver. Tripe, plain. Clams. 

Sausage. Pork Chops. 

STEWED. 

Clams. Mutton Kidneys. Oysters. 

Hashed Meat. Hashed Chicken. 

EGGS. 

Omelets, plain, or with parsley, onions, ham, kidneys, or cheese, 
boiled, fried, scrambled, or dropped. 

COED MEATS. 



Hashed, with cream. 



TOTATOES. 

Lvonnaise. 



Brown Bread. 
Graham Muffins. 
English Muffins. 
Plain Muffins. 
Fried Indian Puddim 



Fried. 



Baked. 



BREAD. 

Graham Bread. 
Bolls. 

Oatmeal Mush. 
Cracked Wheat. 
Hominy. 
Dry and Dipped Toast. 



Corn Bread. 
Bice Cakes. 
Milk Cakes. 
Buckwheat Cakes. 
Fried Hominy. 



Coffee, Chocolate; Oolong, Green, and 
English Breakfast Tea, 



DISGUISED DISHES. 27 

The Grand Hotel, London. 

TABLE D'HOTE DINNER. 
POTAGES. 

Consomme a la d' Orleans. Creme a la Condorcet. 

POISSONS. 

Turbot a la Hollandaise. Whitebait. 

ENTREES. 

Fontanges de Volaille Soufflees 
Tournedos aux Champignons. 

EELEVES. 

Saddle of Welsh Mutton. Dindes a la Perigueux. 

LEGUMES. 

Flageolets a la Maitre d'Hotel. Pommes de Terre Noisettes. 

ROTI. 

Becasses sur Canapes. 

ENTREMETS. 

Abricots en Bellevue. Cassolettes a la Duchesse. 

DESSERT. 

Glace Japonaise. Fruits Assortis. 

The reader will observe that a great deal of impor- 
tance is given to the above by putting into French 
some very ordinary dishes. Especially is this done 
when "words of learned length and thundering sound " 
can be employed, as, for instance, those ignorant of 
the French language should know that " Flageolets a 
la Maitre d'Hotel" is not a musical-instrument dish, 
but haricot beans, cooked in the landlord's style ; 
"Pommes de Terre Noisettes," simply signifies potato- 
balls, like hazel-nuts in size or color. Champignons is a 
grander-looking word for something to eat than mush- 
rooms, and some of the other titles were incomprehensi- 
ble until the production of the dishes they designated. 



28 "studies" in philology. 

A friend who consulted his small pocket French dic- 
tionary, to ascertain the signification of " Cassolettes 
a la Duchesse," closed the book in disgust after finding 
the definition of the first word, which ran thus : " Cas- 
solette, scent-box, perfuming-pan, odor, stench." The 
fact is that these French bills of fare, the world over, 
contain words that are coined from the brains of French 
cooks, and which cannot be found in the dictionary. 
They are often wrought into magnificent titles for the 
purpose of giving an insignificant production a grand 
designation. Putting the above all into plain English 
would have caused the list to have shrunk in impor- 
tance to the uninitiated eye. Americans visiting Lon- 
don for the first time naturally expect to find hotel 
accommodations in that great eity i equal, if not supe- 
rior, to their own, and their disappointment at the 
English style of management, and the impossibility of 
being served in the American style, has caused London 
hotel accommodation, or what Americans call the lack 
of it, to be one of the most prominent of the features 
of their European tour. Again, Americans are such 
frequenters of hotels in their transient visits to differ- 
ent cities in their own country, and so many are accus- 
tomed to make them a permanent abiding-place, that 
the subject is a familiar topic with them abroad. With 
these facts in view, the author has thought best to de- 
vote considerable space to the subject, in giving the 
result of his observations from an American point of 
view. For the sake of comparison, therefore, the din- 
ner bill of fare at an American hotel is here given, in 
which the French titles are confined to "entrees" and 
even there so skilfully mixed with English terms as to 
leave little doubt as to their character in the mind of 
the unlettered guest : — 



DINNER MENU AT THE FIFTH AVENUE. 29 

Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. 

DINNER. 

Little Neck Clams. 

SOUPS. 

Chicken Gumbo. Tapioca. 

FISH. 

Boiled Kennebec Salmon, cream sauce. 

Broiled Spanish Mackerel, parsley sauce. 
Small Potatoes. 

BOILED. 

Leg of Mutton, caper sauce. Corned beef and cabbage. 

Turkey and Oysters. Jole and Spinach. 

Beef Tongue. Ham. 

COLD DISHES. 

Beef Tongue. Roast Beef. Ham. Boned Turkey. 

Lobster, plain. Chicken Salad. Lamb. Lobster Salad. 

ENTREES. 

Sweetbreads larded en macedome. 
Lamb Chops a Fltalienne. 
Bouchees au Salpicon. 

Croquettes of Green Turtle, anchovy sauce. 
Macaroni a la Nicienne. 

Cream Fritters a la vanille. 

ROAST. 

Capon. Ham, Champagne sauce. Mongrel Goose. 

Beef. Spring Lamb, mint sauce. Turkey. 

VEGETABLES. 

Boiled Potatoes. Onions. Stewed Tomatoes. 

Mashed Potatoes. Bermuda Beets. Baked Potatoes. 

Rice. Corn. Turnips. 

Green Peas. Asparagus. 

PASTRY. 

Baked Cup Custard. 

Rice Pudding. Rhubarb Pie. 

Apple Pie. Lemon Kisses. 

Jelly Puffs. Almond Cake. 

Charlotte Russe. 

DESSERT. 

Almonds. Oranges. Raisins. Pecan Nuts- 

Apples. Strawberries. Bananas. 

Pineapple. English Walnuts. 

Vanilla Ice-cream. Coffee. Punch a la creme. 



30 

The style of charging dinners at the Metro-pole and 
Grand Hotel in London is to submit to you a printed 
blank upon which what you have ordered is written, 
and just before rising from the table you are desired to 
approve it by signature before the waiter carries it to 
the cashier to be charged to your account. If stay- 
ing at the hotel for a few days you are only permitted 
to pay the bill on leaving, or, if remaining more than a 
week, at the end of each week, when the huge bill of 
items is handed in. It is of course impossible to tell 
then if the charges for the various meals have all 
been correctly posted from your order slip, unless one 
is blest with a memory not vouchsafed to ordinary 
mortals. A friend of the author who was staying 
there with his family made daily record of every- 
thing ordered in his pocket memoranda, by which he 
discovered errors of account necessitating an overhaul- 
ing of thirty or forty order slips for the week. 

" In future," said he to the book-keeper, " I will pay 
the waiter for each meal as I finish." 

"Quite impossible, I assure yah, sir." 

" Why so ? I observe people do it every day." 

"Er — yes, beg your pardon, but those are tran- 
sients, sir." 

"Well, consider me a transient and I'll pay as 
they do." 

"Really! we couldn't! AVe — ah — "ave to 'ave a 
system ; — our enormous business, cloudier know ! " 

"Enormous business! What do you call an enor- 
mous business?" said the now irate American. 

"Why, immense dinner trade; why, we often have to 
dine two hundred and fifty persons a day hyar ! " and 
the young man leaned back as if half expecting the 
American to reel under this announcement. 



THE BENT OF MANAGERIAL ENERGY. 31 

" How many ! " said the latter. 

" Two hundred and fifty a day ! " 

" Now look here, young man, don't ever tell that to 
any other American ; if you do, he will laugh in your 
face for calling it a big business. Why, I am from a 
second-rate city where at one of our regular hotels 
from five to six hundred are dined daily, while three 
or four clubs of thirty to forty members each are hav- 
ing dinners in different parts of the house at the same 
time." 

" Really ? — most extwardinary ! " 

"Extraordinary! No, sir; I have sat down in a 
dining-room at Saratoga Springs where over a thou- 
sand were dined at once, with four times the variety to 
the bill of fare and with not half the trouble of getting 
served that there is in this country." 

But why go on. The improvement over the small, 
stuffy, beer-saturated, antique, old-fashioned hotel of 
London thirty years ago is already so great that they 
are not now over twenty years behind us in America, 
and our sons and daughters in their visits twenty years 
hence to London will probably then find accommoda- 
tions, regulations, and management up to to-day's 
American standard. 

The reading and reception-room, or general sitting- 
room, as it might be called, at the Grand Hotel is very 
well supplied with English daily and weekly papers 
and magazines, among the latter two American ones. 
There was but one American newspaper, however, 
among the score or more journals upon the tables. 

A large and well arranged public parlor and smaller 
writing-room are above-stairs for the convenience of 
guests. The managers of the great hotels here have 
not yet provided the convenient newspaper and peri- 



32 THE PUBLIC RECEPTION-ROOM. 

odical stand with attendant railroad and theatre ticket- 
offices within their halls. 

Their whole minds are given to big dining-halls, 
committee-rooms, rooms for wedding-breakfasts or 
corporation dinners, grand vestibules, entrance-halls, 
liveried servants, and to forcing people to take suites — 
that is, a room and parlor — instead of single rooms. A 
man loses as much in an English hotel-keeper's esteem 
by taking but one room for himself and wife, and rely- 
ing upon the public sitting-rooms, as he does by ap- 
pearing in public in London or travelling about with any 
different kind of head-covering than a tall black hat. 

The tyranny of the tall hat is such that the indi- 
vidual who presents himself at a banker's or should 
dare to call on a family at the West End in a soft or 
low-crowned hat of the American style, no matter how 
rainy the weather, would be looked upon askance and 
his respectability questioned until endorsed. Worse 
than that, no Englishman would dare go to church 
in any continental city in any head-gear except the 
regulation stovepipe. The comfort of the American 
soft hat must be foregone if you wish to be considered 
anybody among Englishmen. So let every American* 
as soon as convenient after landing in England, buy a 
good, heavy-timbered, well braced English hat and a 
leather fire-bucket hat-box to carry it in, botli of which 
he will find to be badges of value at English hotels 
and in English compan}^ 

The public sitting-room or reception-room we have 
mentioned is the resort of ladies and gentlemen who 
come from distant points in the city or suburbs, dine 
at the house, and go to the theatre or opera in the 
evening. Here, for perhaps half an hour before start- 
ing, ladies would sit of a cold Xovember day with their 



ENGLISH CONSERVATISM. 33 

remarkably decollete dresses, a wonder to us Ameri- 
cans at their hardihood and endurance as well as their 
apparent indifference at what seemed to some of us 
rather an immodest exposure. 

"But," said a good-natured English friend, "we 
have, to be sure, chilly weather, but none of that tre- 
mendous cold that you have in America, necessitating 
the terrrible hot-air furnaces that we English cannot 
abide. Indeed, I have been brought up to live in a 
parlor where the temperature at the fireside was about 
60° to 68° and other parts of the room not above 50° to 
60°, and we prefer to endure a little cooler temperature 
than the 75° to 80° that prevails in } T our American 
houses and into which you are obliged to walk with 
the suit of clothes that you wear for an outside temper- 
ature of from only five to ten degrees above zero." 

I confess there is something in this, but I observe 
these terribly decolletee-dvessed women are troubled with 
bad colds. Influenza is prevalent. Upon asking a 
salesman who was suffering from it, in a store where I 
was making some purchases, why the door near which 
we stood was left wide-open, and if it could not be 
closed, on account of the chill air, he at once politely 
assented, with the remark, that he should be glad when 
it was two weeks later, as that was " the date ourselves 
and neighbors close the shop-doors, and put fires on." 

Closed doors and fires probably would be refrained 
from till that date, even if the temperature had gone 
below the freezing-point, rather than break over an old 
and long established custom. 

" Yes," said our English friend, " but you must re- 
member that a country that has been a thousand years 
in existence gets into grooves, and has little else to do 
but to grow. You, with your cosmopolitan population, 



34 AMERICA THROUGH ENGLISH LENSES. 

can and do take the best points of all nations and weld 
them into a fashion for yourselves — invent new fash- 
ions. With yon novelty is the rule, with us conserva- 
tism. Educated here into certain habits and customs, 
under which we have got along very well generation 
after generation, you must admit it is natural for us to 
go slowly in adopting what has been foreign to our 
ideas of comfort and convenience." 

There is some reason in this, and perhaps we Ameri- 
cans err in expecting the adoption of American fashions 
in England ; but one thing is certain, I do not remem- 
ber that any American travellers in England who have 
given their experiences have made more numerous and 
laughable blunders than Florence Marryat, in her book 
entitled " Tom Tiddler's Ground," which contains, 
some ridiculous statements with regard to Americans, 
such as would convince one that she must have been 
thoroughly hoaxed by designing persons. Note the 
coarseness of the writer in alluding to the display of 
her arms and bust at her readings, at the length of her 
legs; and such expressions as the following: "As 
far as I am concerned, however, I never saw them 
(American ladies) drink anything but 'slops,' and 
I am afraid they must have been very much shocked 
at my brandies and sodas. But then I did all my 
drinking — not being ashamed of it — at the public 
table." 

There is but little evidence in this, and other coarse 
vulgarities, that the author was or could be ashamed 
of anything, unless it might be lady-like courtesy and 
deportment. She remarks in the next paragraph in her 
book to the one above quoted : — 

"With regard to American children, I am thankful 
to say I have seen but little. Doubtless they are as 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LANGUAGES. 35 

nice as most other people's brats, which is not saying 
much for them." 

If the English people take, without any grains of 
salt, all the misrepresentations and collection of ego- 
tistic extravagancies that this Marryat woman presents 
in her book, as the truth about America, then we may 
not wonder that those who have not visited us should 
set their faces against anything said to be an improve- 
ment coming from this country. 

Speaking of " The Truth about America," an Eng- 
lishman named Edward Money, who travelled in this 
country for four months, recently published a book 
bearing that title, which is a collection of such outrag- 
eous blunders and falsehoods as to be veritably comic 
to the American reader, who, so far from being vexed 
at its glaring inaccuracies, can only roar with laughter 
as he reads page after page of its curious blunders, 
dense stupidity, and snobbishness. 

Years agfo, before English and Americans had made 
themselves so well acquainted with each other, we often 
heard of Americans who visited England being compli- 
mented upon the perfection with which they spoke 
English. Now the American discovers that there really 
is a difference in the language of the two countries. I 
do not refer to the cockney dialect of England, or the 
drawling, nasal tones of the burlesque Yankee, now so 
rapidly disappearing, nor the peculiar slang of the 
backwoods and frontiersmen, so often paraded as the 
genuine American every-day talk in English stories and 
English melodramas. As well might Americans cite 
Yorkshire, Lancashire, or Welch dialect as the every- 
day expressions and usual tongue of the average Eng- 
lishman. 

What at once attracts the attention of the newly 



36 A GLOSSARY. 

arrived American in English conversation is the rapidity 
of utterance and the upward inflection of the voice, 
which is the opposite to what he has been accustomed 
to. Indeed, I believe the sole cause of the failure of 
one of the most popular of London's comedians (Toole) 
in America was owing to the extreme rapidity of his 
utterance, rendering it difficult for the average Ameri- 
can to follow him. But all Englismen are not rapid 
speakers. There is a class that 

" stick on conversation's burrs, 
And strew their pathway wdth those dreadful ' ers.' " 

Some of our older readers will recall the perform- 
ances of Mr. Macready, the eminent tragedian, which 
were criticised as marred by this habit in his most ef- 
fective soliloquies and speeches, as for example : — 

" Is this — er — a dagger that I — er — see before 
me, — er — the handle towards — er — my hand ? " 

Or : " To be — er — or — er — not to be — er — that 
is the question." 

Then, there are different appellations given to the 
same things by Americans and English, but readily 
understood by both after a little experience, but, as an 
American once remarked, making the languages so dif- 
ferent that we ought to claim our language for our- 
selves, and call it the American language and not the 
English. 

The following glossary of a few well known terms 
and expressions will be readily recognized by those-who 
have visited England : — 

American. English. 

Immediately j 

Right away ) • • j- 

Baggage Luggage. 



" AMERICAN " DRINKS. 37 

Trunk Box. 

Ticket-office Booking office. 

Ticketed Booked. 

Elevator Lift. 

Conductor Guard. 

Driver Coachman. 

Engineer (locomotive) Driver. 

Fireman Stoker. 

Switched Shunted. 

Cars Coaches. 

Railroad The line. 

Rails . . Metals. 

Horse-railroad Tramway. 

Policeman Bobby. 

Boy Lad. 

Cane Stick. 

Uncomfortable) Beastly. 

Unpleasant ) 

Sick 111. 

Twenty-five Five-and-twenty. 

Excuse me Beg yer pardon. 

A drink A " go." 

Overcoat Topcoat. 

Suspenders Braces. 

Overshoes Goloshes. 

Molasses Treacle. 

Pastry Sweets. 

Candy . Sweetstuff. 

Powdered sugar Castor sugar. 

Rare Underdone. 

The popular idea of American drinks in London as 
paraded on programmes at some of the hotel and pub- 
lic bars seems to have been derived from the Western 
stories of Davy Crockett's time or the dime novel 
series of cow-boys and mining life. Perhaps the 
author has not been in the right locality in America, 
but certainly, in a pretty extensive series of rambles in 
his own country he has failed to find such titles for 
mixed drinks as Pick-me-up : Corpse Reviver, Buck- 
shot, Bull's Eye Hitter, Lay me out, Cock of the 



38 AN AMUSING EXPERIENCE. 

Walk, Cowboy's Delight, Lightning Swizzle, Sherry 
Slap Up, Whiskey wake'em up. Why, in the name of 
all that is absurd it should be thought such appella- 
tions as these are American and would be attractive to 
Americans in London, none but the genius who con- 
trived them can tell. 

A couple of Americans had quite an amusing expe- 
rience in one of the great public bars, where a conspic- 
uous placard announced " American Drinks," and a 
small programme included the supposed attractive titles 
of American beverages above enumerated. Seating 
themselves at one of the small tables, the following 
dialogue took place between one of the Americans and 
the English waiter who came to serve them : — 

"Do you have all kinds of American drinks 
here?" 

44 Certainly, sir. Everythink, sir. "What'll you please 
to border, sir ? " 

44 Bring us two sherry chickens." 

"Beg yer pardon, sir; we 'aven't any chicken, sir; 
would you 'ave a 'am sandwich?" 

"Ham sandwich! No, I want nothing to eat! It's 
to drink — a couple of sherry chickens." 

"Beg yer pardon, sir — must 'ave yer joke — but 
drinkin' chickens, yer know — can't drink chickens! " 

"Look here, what are you talking about? Don't 
you keep American drinks here ? " 

"Yessir, certainly, sir." 

44 Well, sherry chicken is an American drink • go and 
get a couple of 'em — do you hear ? " 

" Yessir, certainly, sir " ; and the waiter left with a 
look of mingled surprise and wonder on his counte- 
nance. 

In a few moments the proprietor, a rotund individ- 



u SHERRY CHICKENS." 39 

ual in a bald head, mutton-chop whiskers, and white 
apron, appeared on the scene. 

" Beg yer pardon, sir. Waiter made some mistake 
in his horder — did you want some sherry and a couple 
of chickens ? " 

"Nothing of the kind; we ordered some American 
drinks — a couple of sherry chickens." 

" Sherry Chicken ! Bless my 'art, sir, must be a new 
thing. We can give you Prairie 0} r ster, Corpse Reviver, 
Buckshot — but we 'aven't airy of the chicken drinks." 

" Why don't you keep some American drinks ? You • 
have a sign up." 

" We do, sir : hall these are Hamerican, I assuah 
yer." 

" Not a bit of it. I'm an American — been all over 
the country. My friend here has lived on a cattle- 
ranch and the frontier these five years, and never heard 
of these Corpse Revivers, and other absurd things you 
have here. Got any eggs? " 

" Eggs ? Yessir." 

" Bring a couple and a pint of sherry, and I'll show 
you what a sherry chicken is." 

The materials were brought, the yolks of two eggs 
dropped into two glasses of sherry, then thoroughly 
shaken together in the usual long glass used for that 
purpose, turned into clear glasses, and a dash of brown 
nutmeg thrown upon the foaming crest of the contents 
of each glass. 

" There, sir, that's an American drink ; that's a sherry 
chicken, and don't } r ou forget it." 

That the proprietor did not forget it, was proved by 
the fact of his having the next day prominently dis- 
played a placard behind his bar, " Sherry Chickens," 
about the only title familiar to American eyes among 



40 THE ENGLISH COUNTRY INN. 

the fanciful ones designating his other concoctions of 
liquid refreshments. 

There are numerous small family-hotels in London 
where you can live comfortably and expensively, and, 
barring the hum and whirl of the busy travelling 
world, which the American learns to like and can enjoy 
without inconvenience at hotels in his own country; 
these lesser family-hotels are at present the most com- 
fortable and best kept in London, because they are 
managed by one man or those who are individually 
interested in them, and not by a set of uninterested 
employe's whose chief aim is to earn dividends for a 
syndicate or stock-company. 

Indeed, lack of conveniences or comfort in English 
country inns can in no way be compared to those that 
exist in America. The horrors of some of the country 
hotels, even in our own New England, to say nothing 
of those at the West and South, must be experienced 
to be appreciated. England, however, in London and 
her other great cities, in the matter of hotels, ought to 
rival in comfort and convenience such cities as New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. 

There is one thing to be said about the second and 
third rate hotels in England as compared with those in 
America. The latter are pitiful imitations in their bills 
of fare of the first class and one can rarely get anything 
good whatever at them, while the second or third rate 
English country inn, if it has nothing but eggs and 
bacon and ale, will generally have those of good 
quality. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The following communication was received by the 
author of these sketches : — 

Tremont House, June 13, 1887. 

Sir: — This morning occurred the proudest moment of 
my life. About 7 A. M. I bade adieu to an exceedingly 
civil conductor and attendant, descended thankfully 
from an inconceivably stuffy car, and for the first time 
in a course of wanderings as devious if not quite as 
prolonged as those of the Aryan race, I placed my foot 
upon the Hub of the Universe. 

A fly — a genuine British " fly " — quickly conveyed 
me to the hotel from which I date, the pleasantest, the 
most homelike, I have found on this side of the water, 
and I was soon ensconced in a quiet room overlooking 
a shady green. What happened next? Well, this. 
As an old member of the London press, I looked 
eagerly for the first Boston paper I could find. There- 
upon the Commercial Bulletin not unnaturally pre- 
sented itself, and the first thing that met my eye was 
an article on " English hotels." 

Now, I am very far either from maintaining the per- 
fection of the ordinary British hotel, or of denying the 
bona fides of your talented correspondent. In fact, 
though I have had experience of a good many of the 
principal hotels over here, as well as in London, Paris, 
Rome, Calcutta, and elsewhere, I have certainly avoided 

41 



42 "an englishman's" lp:tter. 

the American " caravansaries," as your correspondent 
calls them, which have grown up on English soil. For 
the attempt of the easy and the quiet-loving English- 
man to imitate the rapid, restless, and rushing Amer- 
ican always reminds me of the well known fable of the 
jackass and the terrier — make what you will out of the 
illustration; and I am quite contented with such old- 
fashioned comfort as ma}^ be encountered at the Gros- 
venor or the Great Western. 

It is possible, therefore, that in the establishments 
to which your correspondent alludes there may be a 
special servant told off to open and shut a particular 
door, and a special order issued that that same door 
should always be kept open and never be shut at all ; 
nay, it is even just conceivable that the obtaining of a 
mutton chop, in a hotel of that kind, may be a matter 
of favor, though I confess that to an Englishman that 
last statement appears rather " steep." But whatever 
truth or taste may dictate in regard to these matters, I 
venture respectfull} r to protest against your lending 
your influence to confound gluttony with gumption 
and gorging with gorgeousness. 

Your correspondent complains because he had only a 
choice of two or three sorts of fish and the same num- 
ber of dishes of meat ; and I know there are American 
hotels which act upon the principle of the greatest 
gluttony for the greatest number. Nay, I have my- 
self counted no less than seventy dishes upon a bill of 
breakfast fare — not one of them by the by betraying 
the slightest effort at any delicacy of dressing, and have 
been fitly rewarded by utter satiety before commenc- 
ing the meal. But even here there are some hotels 
which recognize that temperance and moderation are 
an essential ingredient in eating no less than in drink- 



THE AUTHOR'S REPLY TO "ENGLISHMAN." 43 

ing, and that to overload and embarrass the choice 
tends to pall and disgust the appetite very little less 
than overfeeding to destroy the stomach. 

My breakfast here this morning consisted only of 
an excellent omelet and a beautifully cooked mack- 
erel. My dinner this evening was just such as we 
might find at a first-rate English or French hotel — no 
more and no less. And if anybody is not satisfied with 
that, but wants the earth upon his bill of fare — well, 
let him go to Chicago. That is, I believe, the great 
place for feeding pigs. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

An Englishman. 

The author has, like the writer of the above, wan- 
dered somewhat at home and abroad, and his descrip- 
tions in these sketches are a record of actual experiences 
— no more, no less. 

We are glad that the correspondent made the Tre- 
mont House his home in Boston. There he will be 
served far more promptly than at either the Grand, 
Metropole, or Great Western, as the author knows 
from personal experience. With regard to confounding 
"gluttony with gumption," our English visitor falls 
into the common error of many of his countrymen that 
guests are to go through an entire bill of fare such as 
furnished by the great hotels in this country. 

In America the proprietors of the hotels in our great 
cities, recognizing that their hundreds of daily chang- 
ing guests may, even from fastidiousness, have different 
tastes, provide viands in such variety that individuals 
may suit their especial taste. 

Take, for instance, the bill of fare of the Fiftli 
Avenue Hotel, published in the last chapter. In that 



44 A CONTRAST. 

the invalid (not glutton) may select from ten different 
kinds of bread, which are always ready for breakfast at 
five minutes' notice from 6 till 11 A. m. He may order 
oatmeal, cracked wheat, hominy, or Indian pudding, 
any one of which will be served him with equal 
promptitude. 

At the English hotels we have mentioned only oat- 
meal was obtainable, and but bread, muffins or toast, 
the latter served, after long waiting, cold, in an inven- 
tion admirably contrived to keep it so, and now out of 
date in this country, called a toast-rack. 

The very best reply to the correspondent is that 
while the author has no intention of " confounding 
gumption with gluttony," yet in criticising the great 
English hotels he cannot subscribe to meanness as 
enterprise or complete lack of business tact in catering 
for the requirement of guests as a characteristic to be 
commended. 

Our correspondent, who has evidently enjoyed the 
creature comforts of Chicago, naturally falls, Briton- 
like, into another error. Chicago is not the great 
place for " feeding pigs," but for slaughtering and dis- 
posing of them. 

Singularly enough, the very next day after receiving 
the above letter came another, of quite a different char- 
acter, from a well known New York merchant but just 
returned from London, whose comments upon the 
author's criticisms are in an entirely different vein, 
and more than endorse what has been set down in 
these pages. The following is his letter : — 

New Yoijk, June 13, 1887. 
I have read your letter on the English hotels, and 
it bringeth the tear to my eye. I have come back a 



a "merchant's" experience. 45 

victim to the infernal London Hotel Metropole, aided 
and abetted by its rivals in imbecility in France and 
Italy. I have got a bad case of rheumatism induced 
by the damp winds that search for you all over that 
house, and encouraged by a weak, anaemic state of the 
blood, which has been attained by an almost entire 
absence of food from the stomach. The Metropole 
coffee at breakfast, if persisted in for three days, will 
produce paralysis, and in a week utter imbecility, and 
the balance of the breakfast — whew! I once ordered 
a " filet steak," which it was agreed would be ready in 
half an hour ; and at the appointed time we were 
ready, waited fifteen minutes more, got the alleged 
steak — which might have as well been veal for all we 
could tell — cooked to death and very cold. 

I reached America alive only by the aid of an old res- 
taurant up a back alley in the " city." It was called 
"The Salutation," and you were saluted with a steak 
or a chop cooked before your eyes in a manner that 
braced one up, and with a result — perfection. By 
this one meal a day I existed, and my wife, who is 
never hungry, existed on Metropole slop and by dining 
at private houses, which we did much of. Fine din- 
ners, but in cold, damp dining-rooms, where drafts 
from unseen corners made merry with one's back hair. 
Well, I hope that I have escaped with my life. Three 
doctors have already experimented with my water- 
logged condition, and a dentist has given valuable 
advice. 

This fact should be impressed on all would-be trav- 
ellers abroad: "A preparation of six months in an 
Avenue A boarding-house in New York, with meals in 
the basement, shady side, no fires (except for over- 
cooking the food), and the lightest of clothing, is 



46 AT DARLINGTON. 

indispensable." If the patient lives through his prepa- 
ration he can go, but let any one who has boarded at 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel understand that he taketh his 
life in his hand when he lands at Liverpool. 

Yours truly, 

Merchant. 

What the average American misses sadly in many of 
the English country hotels is the lack of any visible im- 
provement in their fittings, furniture, or appointments. 
Modern improvements seem to have been considered 
unworthy of adoption. This was brought strikingly to 
mind when, after a pleasant ride one day over the 
Eden Valley road, we arrived at the King's Head 
Hotel at Darlington, where it seemed as though we 
had stepped back into the year 1842. 

The hotel here was a tj'pical English inn. We 
descended from the coach and found no one to show 
us to any public sitting-room — there was none, except 
a commercial room and a tap-room, — and the ladies of 
the party stood in the draughty, chilly passage until I 
went back to the little den at the end of it, where land- 
lady or bar-maid was installed with her pumps, liquor 
measures, etc., and made known my want of rooms, of 
course taking a private room for sitting accommoda- 
tion and meals, in addition to bedrooms. 

The furniture, fittings, bedding, and table-ware had 
evidently descended through successive ownerships or 
had done duty with successive landlords for more than 
half a century. There were the old pressed glass salt- 
cellars of my boyhood's days ; old chairs and carpets 
whose very patterns bring back memories of designs 
that were popular four decades ago and out of which 
all the flush of youthfulness and feeling of comfort had 



ILELICS OF DAYS GONE BY. 47 

long since been exhausted ; candles to illuminate the 
close, stuffy rooms ; beds that yon had to climb into, 
and feather beds at that, down into the depths of 
which yon slumped until brought up by the iron-like 
barrier of the antique mattress of straw or cotton 
beneath, that years of pressure had wrought into a 
couch of adamant ; the cold linen sheets clung around 
you till your teeth chattered from the vain endeavor of 
jour body to impart animal heat thereto in the Cim- 
merian darkness that followed the extinguishing of the 
one or two feeble candles that had imperfectly lighted 
you to your couch. 

"Well," said an American friend, "this is not 
nearly as bad as the hotel accommodations that you 
and I have had to put up with at the West in 
America." 

"Very true, but there they had not been keeping 
hotels for nearly a thousand years." 

Apropos of English travellers' mistakes, quite an 
amusing one is related of an English tourist who was 
finishing up a six weeks' tour in America. He was 
about to leave New York for Boston, where he was to 
take passage on one of the Cunard steamers, and was 
advised to start a day earlier in order to spend a day 
looking around Boston, of which he had heard much 
as a centre of literary culture and a beautiful city. 
This he decided to do, and in communicating the fact 
to a second friend later on, regretted that the steamer 
started so early in the morning of the day of sailing, 
necessitating his rising at six or going on board the 
night previous. 

" Tell you how to manage that," said friend No. 2 ; 
"go to the Maverick House, which is quite near the 
steamer landing at East Boston, and you will save an 



48 an englishman's amusing mistake. 

hour or more in the morning of the day of sailing and 
be able to get your comfortable breakfast on shore." 

The tourist cherished this advice, and, on arrival at 
the station in Boston late at night, bade the hack 
driver : — 

"Take me to the Maverick Hotel, Boston, east, 
please." 

" Oh ! you mean Maverick House, East Boston, I 
s'pose." 

" Quite near the English steamer the place is." 

"All right, sir! jump in! "and the passenger got into 
the carriage, leaned back and dozed over what appeared 
a long ride, crossing a ferry, and finally bringing up at 
a hotel where he was received and bestowed for the 
night. 

Next morning, after breakfast, he prepared for a stroll 
around Boston, and asked a lounger near the door what 
there was " worth seeing hyar." 

"Nothin' but docks," was the reply of the party 
interrogated, as he withdrew his cigar to expectorate. 

The tourist passed out, and returned in two or three 
hours, dust-covered and disgusted, when he remem- 
bered that he had heard much of Boston's beautiful 
suburbs, so, after refreshing himself, he applied to the 
host to obtain him a carriage for a pleasant drive in the 
country. 

The vehicle was duly provided and the traveller 
again set out. He returned in a pet, and departed- 
early next morning with sundry expressions of disgust 
at the attractions of Boston and the rates of carriage- 
fare in that city. 

Among those to whom he related his experiences on 
his return was a well known citizen of Boston, who 
expressed surprise at the denunciations of the traveller. 



THE "hub" libelled. 49 

"Very dusty, cheap city, no public buildings of 
any note, principally a mere shipping and workshop 
town. Was told to see the docks. Docks ! They 
call old wooden piers there docks. Many of the streets 
unpaved. Only one good hotel." 

" What is that ? " said the American. " Why, where 
did you stay ? " 

" Maverick Hotel, sir." 

" Why, that is in East Boston, across the water, 
and not the city proper." 

" Eh ? Ah, yas ; Boston, east ; went there to be 
near steamship, you know." 

" But were you never in Boston before, and did you 
not go over the ferry? " 

" Ferry ! Oh, yas, went over that late at night, when 
I arrived." 

" And you did not go back over it next day ? " 

" Bless me, no ! I supposed that was the outskirts 
and business part of Boston. No use seeing that, you 
know." 

"Well, you spoke of an afternoon ride to the 
suburbs." 

"Oh, ah, yas; blarsted humbug — Boston suburbs. 
Coachman took me to a place called Chelsea ; no 'ospi- 
tal like ours, nothing to see. Boston docks — another 
humbug; why, there's not a bit of stone like we have 
in Liverpool. And then the streets and churches and 
all that sort of thing, you know; beastly place — great 
disappointment, I assuah yar." 

Even after the American had taken pains to con- 
vince the traveller of his mistake in having seen but a 
small portion of the city, divided from the more popu- 
lous and attractive portion by water, and devoted 
chiefly to wharves, factories, railroads, and machinists' 



50 PATRONAGE AND Pit ICES. 

shops, and that in so doing he had entirely missed 
seeing the real metropolis of New England, the latter 
was hardly convinced, and wondered how men of 
literary tastes could live among so much dust and con- 
fusion. 

English shops the author has fully described in for- 
mer volumes, but this bit of advice may be given, that 
those who parade as butchers, bakers, or candlestick- 
makers " to the Queen," " His Royal Highness the 
Prince of Wales," or any of the royal family, generally 
charge you a shilling or two more than you pay for the 
same articles elsewhere, and have a stock that is limited 
in variety. Then, there is that provoking charge, " a 
guinea," a coin that you never see except in a numis- 
matic collection. The guinea charge is used by fashion- 
able physicians and swell jewelry, china, print, and 
book stores as an excuse for getting an extra shilling 
on each pound sterling charged. 

I recall a young dealer in rare books and prints that 
I used to visit ten or a dozen years ago, in an odd, 
old-fashioned store at the corner of an alley in Lon- 
don, whose tumbled-together merchandise on crammed 
shelves in his little shop was a delight to bibliomaniac 
or bibliophile to overhaul. One could pick up choice 
bits, too, at a fair price. There were ragged pamphlets 
that one might buy for threepence, and choice old 
black-letter tomes for ten pounds. Books for a shill- 
ing and books for a sovereign; volumes for "three 
pun' ten " and a concession made you for a round lot. 
But one day a friend saw more money in the business, 
joined him in partnership, put in a good bit of capital, 
and wisely moved up into a good, aristocratic neighbor- 
hood. The shop, with its plate-glass windows and 
dark shelves with richly bound books carefully 



THE FORTUNES OF A BIBLIOPOLE. 51 

arranged, was eminently respectable, not to say aristo- 
cratic, and literary "swells" were induced to patron- 
ize it. 

When T visited my former acquaintance some years 
after this successful move had been made, I was struck 
by the different style of my reception than that of 
former days. Then it was, " This is a nice copy of the 
book, price only sixteen shillings " ; or, " Here is one, 
with worn binding, you can have for seven shillings, 
and put any binding on you fancy"; "Very good 
copy, this, three pounds, and well worth it too, sir. 
Look on that shelf, sir ; there you will find some bar- 
gains from an auction sale last week. This little 
volume, with damaged cover, only three shillings." 

Now, at this later day, as I entered, I found choice 
old illustrated books had been put into sumptuous 
bindings. Regiments of old friends shone in new 
uniforms — rare specimens of old tomes in clean and 
perfect condition astonished the book-buyer, and, it 
may be said, so did the prices. The dealer had good 
specimens, and was bound to have good prices. No 
worn-out covers or ragged tomes for you to buy cheap,, 
and furbish up at the binder's. The old stock, what 
there was of it, was carefully stowed out of the way, 
at the rear of the store, and the choice specimens were 
wisely kept on view in front. 

Recognizing bibliomaniacs or bibliophiles at once, 
the dealer never molested them as they entered, and 
pulled down volume after volume in their explorations, 
but wisely occupied himself at some little distance 
away, making no sign or remark that he noted their 
presence, until spoken to. Then it was they found 
that choice stock, store, and surroundings were to be 
paid for by the guinea exaction. 



52 THE GUINEA EXACTION. 

"What is the price of this?" 

" Four guinass." 

" How much for these ? " 

" Six guinass." 

"And this little book?" 

" One guinaa." 

" Confound it, man ! do you not sell anything here 
for pounds, shillings, and pence ? " 

" Beg yer pardon, nothing for pence, yer know ; 
rarely anything for less than 'arf a guinaa — hurt our 
trade hyar." 

The merchandise was rare, choice, well cared for; 
hut the charm of the fusty, musty old literary mine 
was gone, and, with a sigh, the wandering book-lover 
turned away in search of some place where he might 
dig, delve, and exhume for himself some literary rarity, 
and, after purchasing, gloat over it by right of discov- 
ery. But the old opportunity of picking up rare books 
for a trifle has passed. Nearly every dealer, large and 
small, owing to the largely increased demand, is now 
well posted as to the value of rare and scarce books. 
There is this difference in a shop like the one above 
mentioned to others, and that is, one will have to pay 
guineas instead of pounds for his purchases. 



CHAPTER V. 

A shout ride from Darlington, and we were at 
Ripon, where the great cathedral and the beautiful 
ruins of Fountains Abbey are the historic sights that 
will claim the attention and interest of the tourist. 
The city of Ripon is in the county of York, and nearly 
midway between London and Edinburgh, being two 
hundred and twelve miles from the former, and one 
hundred and ninety-one from the latter city. It stands 
on a slight eminence, which gradually rises from the 
two little rivers Yore and Shell, and over the Yore is 
one of those beautiful English bridges, built entirely of 
stone, with graceful arches, seventeen in number, sup- 
porting its two hundred and sixty yards of length. 

Of course Ripon is one of those old English towns 
that have many antiquities, and much history to interest 
the student and antiquarian, and dates back to the 
seventh century, the grant of lands for the foundation 
of a monastery being made, it is said, in 660. The 
site of Fountains Abbey, however, according to local 
history, was granted in 1182 by Thurstan, Archbishop 
of York, out of his liberty of Ripon, to certain monks 
who had separated themselves from what they deemed 
the lax discipline of the Benedictine Abbe}^ of St. Mary 
in York, and it became in time one of the richest and 
most important monasteries in England. 

A pleasant day renders a drive in the country in 
England doubly enjoyable, and such we enjoyed as we 
rolled over the smooth, well kept roads, amid English 

53 



54 A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY. 

rustic scenery, until we reached the entrance to Studley 
Park, where we descended for our walk of about a mile 
to the ruined abbey. 

The grounds of Fountains Abbey are owned by the 
Marquis of Ripon, and are magnificent in extent and 
in exquisite landscape effects. Lofty, luxuriant trees 
are there, and closely shaven lawns, evergreens of 
stately growth, and gigantic beech-trees that throw 
a grateful shade over the well kept driveway, which 
leads one along past shelving crags or beside a swift- 
fit )wino* stream, the banks of which are adorned with 
statues and fountains. Pathways and rambles lead up 
over the steep embankments, and in the dense hedges, 
ever and anon, are openings through which the most 
lovely stretches of scenery are obtained. A little 
temple crowns an elevated point from which a beau- 
tiful panoramic view is had, and a view through a 
great opening in the foliage made by pulling aside 
a sliding door is indeed a " Surprise," as its name 
indicates. It shows a great reach of scenery, which 
appears as if especially laid out for the view, as, 
doubtless, much of it was, forming one of the most 
charming landscape effects I ever looked upon. But 
on the regular, broad walk we soon caught sight of the 
abbey as we approached it. In every respect it was 
the picturesque old ruin that one reads of in song, 
legend, and story — the lofty Gothic entrance, tall, 
Gothic window, square tower, and long stretch of 
ancient walls with their green mantle of ivy swaying 
in the summer breeze. 

The tall tower of the abbey, at the end of the north 
transept, we were told, w T as 168 feet in height, although 
not appearing so high as we stood within the area of 
its base, which covers about twenty-five feet. Of course, 



FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 55 

the floors of its several chambers, glass of its windows, 
and the ornamental pinnacles have fallen, but the 
great, square, massive walls of masonry are solid as 
ever, and far up on each of the four sides are ancient 
Old English inscriptions interspersed with the carved 
arms of the abbey, three horse-shoes, mitre and keys, 
figures holding shields and palm-branches, and other 
devices. 

Then we wandered through the whole of this 
beautiful ruin, which is kept clear of rubbish, and 
convenient for visitors, and with all that can be pre- 
served as much in the original form as possible. 

There was the old choir with its aisles o£ elegant 

o 

design ; the nave, which one sees at its best on entering 
the great western door, giving impressive effect with 
its massive columns 23 feet high and 16 feet in circum- 
ference, without a triforium intervening between them 
and the plain splayed windows above ; the transept 
with its supporting arches of Norman architecture. 
The eastern transept is about one hundred and fifty 
feet long, and has a great east window of Gothic archi- 
tecture. The cloister court, a great area of 128 feet 
square, is still surrounded by the buildings of the mon- 
astery ; two sides of this were occupied by the monks, 
where they studied, and were also used for the instruc- 
tion of novices. 

The ruins of the chapter-house show it to have 
been a splendid hall in its day. Its dimensions are 85 
feet long by 41 feet in width. There were ten round 
marble columns, the ruins of which still remain, which 
divided this hall into three aisles. The remains of a 
triple tier of stone seats are pointed out as those 
occupied by the monks when they assembled here for 
deliberation. According to the old Cistercian rule, 



Ob LUXURIES OF A MONASTERY. 

abbots should be buried in the chapter-house, and 
the curious visitor may here find several stone coffins 
that have been exhumed, and interest himself in 
trying to decipher the rudely sculptured Latin in- 
scriptions., upon the slabs that formerly were set in the 
flooring. We were shown the seat said to have been 
occupied by John de Cancia in presiding as tenth 
abbot of the monastery for over twenty years (from 
about 1220 to 1240), and directly beneath it the 
memorial slab that was placed over his grave. 

On another side we were shown the remains of the 
lay brethren's dormitories, refectoiy, buttery, kitchen, 
lavatory, etc., till it seemed like inspecting the ruins 
of a magnificent hotel of the olden time, where every 
creature-comfort that could have been devised for the 
occupants was provided. Even the lavatories were 
splendidly drained by water running beneath their 
sixty-foot hall. The refectory was originally a splen- 
did room, about one hundred and ten feet by fifty, and 
the buttery is a curiously contrived room opening into 
it, in which are still remains of a stone drain, boiler, 
and lead piping. 

At one side of the building used as a kitchen was a 
huge heap of ashes and other rubbish that had been 
cast out of a back window. This was dug over a few 
years ago to see if any relics could be discovered. 
Amid the oyster and mussel shells, with here and 
there beef and venison bones, were discovered a curi- 
ous old silver spoon, coarse antique smashed jugs, 
ornaments evidently broken off silver plate, and other 
articles of trifling value, but interesting as connecting 
the monastic life in which they figured centuries ago 
with that of to-day, as the curious delver exhumed 
them from where they had been cast by careless hands 



THE GEE AT HALL. 57 

of olden time, much after the same manner as char- 
acterizes the servants of to-day. 

Nor were the provisions for sickness neglected, as we 
were shown in the ruins of the infirmary and the Great 
Hall, as it is called, connected with it. This .must have 
been a magnificent apartment, for it was 171 feet by 
70, and the roof was supported by eighteen cylindrical 
columns, the bases shafted and banded with marble, 
the positions of which show that it was divided into 
a nave and two aisles. All these cloisters, church, 
halls, infirmary, etc., are reached by connecting pas- 
sages, it should be borne in mind, for this monastery, 
in its prime, was one of the richest in the kingdom, 
and these ruins cover many acres of ground, while 
the ancient boundaries of St. Wilfred of Ripon were 
an uninterrupted space of thirty miles. 

But I will not attempt descriptions of cloisters, 
granaries, chapels, chapter-houses, and the vast range 
of various buildings used for this truly regal residence 
of the monks that inhabited them in this charming 
and fertile part of the country. The abbey was one 
of the grandest and most complete monastic residences 
of its times, as its ruins and history attest, and, being 
favored by popes, prelates, and kings with various 
immunities and -privileges, enriched by a succession of 
princely gifts and the purchase of sepulture within its 
walls by large donations of money from persons of opu- 
lence and rank, it was an institution of no mean power 
in the kingdom. 

It certainly is one of the most extensive and pictu- 
resque ruins in England, and one that will fully come 
up to the imagination of those who have only read of 
ruined abbeys and castles. 

Before leaving Ripon, we visited the cathedral. It 



58 RIPON CATHEDRAL. 

was in the afternoon, when a service was being held, 
in which the cathedral choirs of Ripon, York, and 
Durham united in rendering the vocal portion of the 
service. This was superbly given, and the beautiful 
soprano and alto of the boy vocalists, combined with 
several magnificent bass singers (men), sent a flood of 
melody through the great building, that made its arches 
ring with glorious harmony. 

The ancient name of Ripon was Inrhypum, and the 
foundation of this church was a Benedictine monas- 
tery. St. Wilfred, who appears to be the patron saint, 
I find, on looking up his history, was an abbot before 
A. D. 661, and some accounts say that he was the 
founder of this religious establishment. 

One of the chief benefactors of the monasteiy at 
Ripon was King Athelstan, who made it a sanctuary, 
and extended the privileges of it a mile from the town 
in all directions. He who violated it Avas liable to lose 
both life and property. The boundary of this sanc- 
tuary was marked by eight crosses, at the close of the 
thirteenth century, called mile crosses ; the positions 
of three are still indicated. The present cathedral 
dates from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, and, 
although not so large and imposing as others in Eng- 
land, yet is a stately edifice of grand proportions. 

The north-west front, by which we entered, has two 
tall, square towers, with a pointed gable between. The 
entrance was through one central portal and two each 
side of it, all of pointed Gothic architecture, and above 
were three divisions, each with its tall pointed win- 
dows filled with stained glass. We could get but an 
imperfect view of the interior, as service was going on. 
A richly carved stone screen — a perfect mass of carv- 
ing, nineteen feet high, on which are represented the 



SUPERB DECORATIONS. 59 

Deity and angels — separates the choir from the tran- 
sept. There are lofty and graceful arches on each side 
of the choir, supported by clustered columns. 

The great east window is a superb piece of stained- 
glass work. Its different decorations contain the coats- 
of-arms of different benefactors of the church. It was 
placed there in 1854, at a cost of £1000. The carving 
of the wood-work of some of the stalls of the dean, 
prebendaries, and other church officials is beautifully 
done, and on a portion of the wood-work the date of 
1494 was pointed out to us. From the centre of the 
choir the view is beautiful and impressive. One 
should look first to the east end, which terminates 
with the great Gothic window, and then to the west 
end, where, within another great Gothic arch, jut out 
the decorated pipes of the organ, below which are the 
carved and ornamented canopies of the stalls, and on 
the sides the open pointed arches. 

There are very few monuments in this cathedral ; 
the most remarkable is of marble, and in the nave, on 
which is rudely sculptured a man kneeling and a lion. 
It is said to represent an Irish prince and knight who 
was buried here, who returned from one of the Cru- 
sades bringing with him a lion that followed him 
about like a dog. 

The length of this cathedral (interior) is 266 feet 
from east to west. The nave is 167 feet and the choir 
101. The breadth of the nave and aisles is 87 feet. 
The transept is 182 feet long by about thirty-five 
broad, and the height of the towers is 110 feet. The 
people of Ripon boast that their cathedral, although it 
may not be the largest, is one of the best proportioned 
churches in the kingdom. 

In the big, square market-place is a monument, 



60 ROBIN HOOD'S WELL. 

nearly a hundred feet in height, erected to William 
Aislaby, who represented the borough for sixty years 
in Parliament. Most of the streets are narrow, like 
those of other ancient English towns. 

It will be recollected, by those who have read the 
history of Eobin Hood, that it was the " Curtail Friar 
of Fountains Abbey " with whom the merry outlaw 
had an adventure in crossing the stream, each com- 
pelling the other to carry him across the little river 
Shell until the Friar ended by throwing Robin into 
the stream. During a bout that followed between the 
two, Robin Hood, with his bugle-horn, summoned a 
score of bow-men, while the Friar, with a silver whistle, 
summoned a pack of fierce hounds. A truce followed, 
and the Curtail Friar (Tuck) and Robin struck hands, 
and became friends. 

The romantic dale near the river, as you approach 
the abbey, seems a fitting spot for the scene of Robin 
Hood's romances, and you are shown " Robin Hood's 
Well," near a green knoll, as proof positive that this 
was the scene of some of the bold outlaw's exploits. 

And this was "in ye oldenne tyme." Indeed it was; 
and, when the author was at Ripon, preparations were 
in progress for celebrating the thousandth anniversary 
of that city's civic life. 

Only think of this ! We juveniles who have recently 
been pluming ourselves in this country on our centen- 
nials ! There was a city about to celebrate the mil- 
lenary festival of its civic life ! This celebration was 
to include a grand procession, in which Robin Hood 
and Ids men, including Friar Tuck and Allen a Dale, 
were to figure, as well as other historic personages of 
the past. Special service was to be held at the 
cathedral, where the Archbishop of York was to 



A MILLENNIAL FESTIVAL. 61 

preach ; a grand luncheon to be given in the public 
market-place, the festivities of the first day winding 
up with a torch-light procession. 

The three days' public festivities began August 25, 
1886. The houses and market-places were all gayly 
decorated. Venetian masts held long streamers and fes- 
toons of flowers, and great wreaths twined about them. 
The motto of the city was conspicuously displayed : — 

" Except tlje ILorU kttu tfjc cttg, tfjc foatrijman foaftctij out in bain." 

The public buildings were all decorated with flags 
and streamers. The bishops of Chester and Durham 
and the mayors of Darlington and Stockton took part 
in the proceedings. 

The first day was delightful as to weather, and the 
reception of dignitaries, the procession of yeomanry 
escorting visiting mayors and other officials, in purple, 
black, and scarlet robes, the mayors wearing those- 
huge chains of office and having great maces borne 
before them, was a feature of the day. 

At the cathedral, the choir sang a modern version 
of a processional hymn written by King Alfred, to a 
tune taken from a MS. of the thirteenth century. A 
grand public luncheon was then given, of which twelve 
hundred people partook, but the feature of the day Avas 
the antique procession and old English " revels." 

The master of the revels, clad in an Elizabethan 
dress of old-gold velvet, with a train of cloth-of-gold 
embossed with figures of animals, ships, and birds, 
read a proclamation at the market-cross, stating the 
revels should begin that night. He was surrounded 
by his pages, chamberlains, and marshals, all dressed 
in quaint old English costumes. After this procla- 



62 THE "BEVELS." 

mation a most grotesque procession paraded the 
streets. There was an advance-guard of boy dogs, 
a band of dancing satyrs and ogres, a cavalry band of 
men in hobby-horses, a band of huge brewers with a 
great car of beer-casks (what would any celebration 
in England be without beer ?), then millers, cloth- 
workers, and other trades, not forgetting the makers 
of the celebrated Ripon spurs. The various civic 
dignitaries brought up the rear, the procession and 
streets being illuminated by bands of torch-bearers. 

The grand affair, however, was on the last of the 
three days, the 27th of August, when a procession 
representing England in the olden time marched 
through the streets of Ripon and on through the 
beautiful grounds of Fountains Abbey lent for the 
occasion by the Marquis of Ripon. The route of 
the march was along the borders of the beautiful 
sheet of water which extends through the grounds out 
and in along the broad walk under the grand old trees. 
It was an effective and beautiful pageant. There were 
Druids with their oak-crowns, white robes, and long 
staffs, and arch-Druids with their golden sickles, — 
bards with long flowing beards and their golden harps, 
the jester in his blue and white silk motley and cap 
and bells, — the Emperor Hadrian in his Roman char- 
iot, guarded by a whole troop of Roman soldiers in 
brazen helmets, crimson tunics, and shining greaves 
and breastplates. 

The huge boat of the Viking, with its crew, the sides 
of the boat hung with shields, and the boat itself filled 
with the wild, shaggy-bearded Norsemen, grasping 
their gleaming weapons ; the old Ripon abbot and 
Prince Alefrid in Saxon costume, various Saxon kings 
and queens in their chariots, surrounded by attendants 



A THOUSAND YEARS OF CIVIC LIFE. 63 

in the costume of the period. King Athelstane, Arch- 
bishop Odo and a train of monks, King Henry IV. and 
his queen, and a troop of Norman knights who visited 
Ripon to escape the plague that raged in London 
during their time. 

Robin Hood and a Avhole troop of his merry men in 
Lincoln Green, with cloth yard shafts and long-bows, 
St. Wilfrid and a troop draped in white and crimson 
and bearing shields, arms, and emblems of the ancient 
kings of Northnmbria ; King Alfred, strong and stal- 
wart, with the standard bearing the emblem of the old 
Saxon Horse ; May-pole dancers, shepherds and shep- 
herdesses, harvest queens and hobby-horse riders. The 
whole formed a wonderfully curious and admirably 
costumed set 1 of characters, in a procession over a 
mile in length. 

The play of Robin Hood and the Curtail Friar was 
enacted, a grand luncheon served to the characters of 
the procession in the cloisters of the abbey, a tourna- 
ment of knights on hobby-horses held in the tilting- 
ground, tilting at the quintain and ring, archery, single- 
stick, quarter-staff, and other old English sports were 
indulged in, and altogether the three days of revel and 
jollity were thoroughly enjoyed. 

Really Ripon could have celebrated the thousandth 
anniversary of its distinct historical existence two 
hundred years ago, for the life of the town extends far 
beyond a thousand years. It was a thousand years ago 
that Doomsday Book was compiled, and the original 
abbey prior to Fountains was then a heap of ruins. 
Three hundred years before William the Conqueror's 
time the King of Northumbria presented the monastery 
and adjacent land to Wilfred, who, on becoming Arch- 
bishop of York, erected Fountains. 



64 "OLD" ENGLAND, INDEED. 

A thousand years of civic life, however, may be 
reckoned as something more than respectable an- 
tiquity. There were honest, steady-working folks in 
Ripon, in the very infancy of the feudal system, when 
there was not a king's justicer going circuit in Eng- 
land, and when the crime of murder might be purged 
by a money payment. Ripon tradesmen were weaving 
at their looms and measuring their cloth when the 
news reached them of the first Crusade, and doubtless 
many of her sturdy sons joined in that expedition. 
Ripon was a thriving and busy place before Ireland 
was conquered, Wales subdued, or Magna Charta 
signed at Runnymede, and its men fought gallantly at 
the battles of Crecy and Poictiers. The Scots ravaged 
the place in 1319, the Parliamentary troops, like vandal 
Puritans as they were, sacked the minster in 1643, and 
various other historic events fiorire in the life of the 

o 

ancient city. Truly it seems old England, indeed, to 
us of " states unborn in ancient lore," when we begin 
to search the musty chronicles of the lives of her 
ancient tuwns and cities. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FURNESS ABBEY. 

A ruin second only to Fountains Abbey in extent 
is Furness Abbey, which the tourist should not fail to 
visit during his trip through the English lake country. 
The author took train from Liverpool at about 10 
A. M., via Preston and Lancaster, for Windemere. 

It is a beautiful ride by the west margin of Der- 
wentwater, Borrowdale, through a valley six miles 
long watered by the river Grange, — a stretch of 
lovely English scenery ; Grange appeared to be a 
lovely seaside place with Park Hotel and lovely cot- 
tages and villas. 

We whirled past Ulverston and Lancaster and the 
celebrated Seven-Mile Sands, the railway track passing 
near the very edge of them for three or four miles, and 
we had an excellent opportunity of seeing this remark- 
able expanse, which is nothing more nor less than a 
wide estuaiy between Lancaster and Furness, which 
lias been filled up by two rivers with mud and fine 
sand. 

When the tide of the sea is out, the sand-bed is laid 
bare for a mile or more from shore, and its smooth, 
sandy surface may be crossed by a coach and four at 
quite a distance from shore. We passed when the tide 
was out and vehicles could traverse without difficulty ; 
a few hours later and several feet of water covered the 
widely spreading sandy expanse, with vessels sailing 
where the stage-coach and wagons had been. 

65 



66 CIVILIZATION PROFANING NATURE'S TEMPLE. 

About six miles from Ulverston our train pulled up 
at Furness, where we debarked to remain a short time 
and visit the ruins of the abbey. The rush and rattle 
of the railroad train seemed almost a profanation of 
this beautiful and sheltered glen, so well adapted for a 
quiet old abbey, where its sandalled monks might enjoy 
all that was soothing and beautiful in nature, for their 
abbey was charmingly situated in the lap of an 
exquisite little glen watered by a little river which 
flowed through it. 

Formerly, the great forests spread over the surround- 
ing country, and it would have been difficult to have 
found a more secluded spot. The surroundings now 
render the fine old ruins all that one would imagine as 
picturesque ; the rich verdure around contrasting with 
the grand old arches of crumbling red stone, and the 
masses of ivy upon its walls festooning them like vast 
curtains of living green. 

The abbe} r was founded in 1127, by Stephen, after- 
wards king of England, and richly endowed by him. 
The abbot of Furness was a sort of king himself in 
his domain, which covered quite an extent of territory 
in the vicinity, and neighboring proprietors were glad 
to retain his favor by gifts, and his military powers in 
defence of their estates against Border tribes or other 
outlaws, from whose incursions or depredations they 
were likely to suffer ; for certain Norman nobles, to 
whom lands had also been granted in the vicinity, came 
with the monks, and tributary herdsmen, with their 
flocks, settled down over these verdant slopes. 

The lords' lands were divided into tenements, and 
each tenement, besides paying a proper rent, was to 
furnish an armed man to be always ready for battle 
when called upon. Each tenement was divided into 



THE " COMMUNITY " OF FUBNESS ABBEY. 67 

four portions, and each portion held by an emancipated 
serf, one of the number being always in readiness for 
defence or to go to the wars. Shepherds, also, by per- 
mission of the abbot, made enclosures about their huts 
for their flocks, and these people all availed themselves 
of the religious privileges and influence of the institu- 
tion, besides paying tribute to it in one way or another. 

The abbots maintained quite a small army, number- 
ing twelve hundred able-bodied men, and exercised as 
supreme power in Furness as the rulers of a principality. 
Their revenue, in the time of Edward L, was equal to 
nearly a hundred thousand dollars of our money per 
annum, which is some indication of the wealth of the 
institution. 

The monks that inhabited this abbey were Benedic- 
tines, called "gray monks," from the color of their 
habits. After some years, they were changed to the 
Cistercian order, to which they belonged at the time 
the abbey w T as given up and abandoned, in 1537, four 
hundred and thirteen years after its first establishment. 
It contained, at the time of its dissolution, thirty-three 
monks and one hundred lay brethren. The monks 
consisted of two distinct classes : the clerical, who at- 
tended the choir, and were wholly devoted to religious 
duties ; and the lay brethren, who tilled the land and 
performed the servile work of the monastery. The lat- 
ter were treated the same as the former, except not 
being allowed the use of wine. 

The abbey property, after passing through various 
hands, finally came into the possession of the present 
owner, the Duke of Devonshire. The grounds are 
kept in good order, and the owner allows free ingress 
to all parts of the ruins, which extend through a vast 
extent of park. A wall enclosed the church and other 



68 A FAIR DEMESNE. 

structures, while a second wall enclosed the old fish- 
ponds and a park of about eighty-four acres. 

We had not walked a dozen yards from the little 
railway station before we stumbled over the base of 
ruined pillars half-buried in the earth, the remains of 
the abbot's chapel and some forgotten out-buildings ; 
and, as we pass on, there is a comfortable hotel, built on 
the site of the abbot's house. A short distance further 
on, by the public road at the rear of the hotel, we find 
this beautiful dell bears the somewhat startling name 
of " Valley of the Deadly Nightshade." The mould- 
ering walls, roofless church, and outlines of buildings 
still visible, show what a huge religious house Furness 
Abbey must have been in its time. There is a charm 
in the still exquisite designs of even the ruins of these 
old abbeys of England, that makes one love to linger 
among them in silent admiration of their graceful and 
picturesque proportions. 

The north entrance to the transept, through which I 
passed, was a high-arched Norman door-way ; above it 
was the open space of what was once a huge, magnifi- 
cent Gothic window, and in the wall that stretched 
away at one side, other narrower windows, with pointed 
Gothic arches. It is difficult, without the use of plans 
or engravings, to give the reader a correct idea of the 
extent of these old abbeys or the magnificence of their 
proportions, for they were vast religious palaces with 
their churches, guest-halls, chapels, infirmaries, cloisters, 
chapter-houses, dormitories, and kitchens. Fill up these 
gracefully arched windows with stained glass, once 
more crown the walls with lofty roof, replace the fallen 
pillars and clustered columns in erect position, and re- 
store the lofty towers, the beautiful carvings and 
decorations of the great nave and transept, and sur- 



INTERIOR OF THE ABBEY. 69 

round all with gentle slopes, grand park, winding river, 
and well stocked fish-pond, and it must have been a 
paradise to have enjoyed a life of peace in, rather than 
a place to retire from the world as an act of duty or 
penance. 

But even now, as we enter the grass-grown enclosure 
of the roofless church, we obtain some idea of what it 
must have been in its prime, from its present condition ; 
for the walls, with the exception of the north one, are 
in good preservation. 

The church is 304 feet long and 66 feet wide. The 
nave had alternate clustered and solid pillars. The tran- 
sept is 129 feet long and the walls massive, being from 
four to six feet in thickness. The chancel is sixty feet 
long from the transept, and here at one end of it is the 
magnificent east window, which now is but a great 
opening 47 feet high and 23 feet broad. Fortunately, 
the glass, which is a superb specimen of the stained 
glass of the Middle Ages, was carefully removed after 
the abbey was given up, and it is now placed in the 
church at Bowness. 

There are two other great windows in this chancel 
each forty feet in height. The grand altar was situated 
immediately under the east window, and at the right of 
it still remain the sedalia or seats occupied by the white- 
robed officiating priests during the ceremony of high- 
mass. These are separated from each other by richly 
carved stone-work, and above them is a canopy, also of 
elegant work of the sculptor's chisel. From the south 
transept, you obtain access by a stone staircase to the 
dormitory, from which one may look down into what 
was once the refectory, where the abbot and monks of 
old assembled to discuss creature-comforts at their 
bounteous board : — 



70 GRANDEUR IN DECAY. 

" And the abbot meek, 
With his form so sleek, 
Was the heartiest of them all, 
And would take his place 
With a smiling face 
When refection's bell would call." 

For the abbey grounds held bakeries, breweries* 
fish-ponds, and granaries, and, doubtless, good fat deer 
were to be had for the hunting, as well as other game, 
in the adjacent forests. 

The position of abbot in these rich monasteries was 
one not only of dignity, but of power and importance, 
and the office was sought for by wealthy families for 
their sons who had entered the church. 

Here in Furness, besides being at the head of the 
monastery, he was chief lord or petty prince of the 
estate, with certains powers over the liberties of 
the district. 

At the west end of the church are the remains of 
the great belfry-tower, with massive walls, eleven feet 
in thickness, supported by buttresses. 

Our attention was called to a vast parallelogram, 
two sides of which were formed by one wall of the 
church and another of the refectory, in which were 
the foundations of another great building. Then came 
the cloisters and the remains of the once beautiful 
chapter-house, about sixty feet by forty-five, now an 
open waste of weeds, wild-flowers, and shattered stone- 
work, and above, indicated by a close range of windows, 
was the scriptorium. Beneath those windows, in their 
cool and cosey niches, the monks wrote those beautiful 
missals which have come down to us, specimens of 
long and patient labor and of beautiful work in the 
art of illuminating, exquisite specimens of penman- 



THE GUEST-HALL. 71 

ship, drawing, and coloring, which no typography can 
equal. 

The curious antiquarian will find within the church 
enclosure, not far from the high altar, various monu- 
ments and tombstones that have been collected here 
from different parts of the ruins. One is of a cru- 
sader, cross-legged, with his sword and armor, and 
others of mailed warriors with shields and helmets, 
and the sculptured stone coffins of long forgotten 
abbots. 

The guest-hall is a large building distinct by itself, 
one hundred and thirty feet by fifty, and is forty feet 
high to the roof. This was also the abbot's lodging, 
and at one end of it is a private chapel, and at the 
other a private kitchen, and close by a ruin of mills, 
ovens, stables, and store-rooms, while huge heaps of 
shells near the kitchen bear witness that the monks 
of old had a weakness for oysters. Great windows, 
including an east window, light the guest-hall, the 
beautiful roof of which still remains. 

Guests of Furness Abbey were royally entertained, 
if old chronicles are to be believed, and its retainers, 
tenantry, and other dependents, at the time of its 
dissolution, sadly missed its aid. But Henry VIII. 
decided for the suppression of the smaller monasteries, 
on account, as his bill before Parliament expressed it, 
of the " manifest synne, carnel, and abominable living 
daily used and committed," etc. Henry VIII. on 
abominable living! — Satan reproving sin! 

So the old abbey, that seems, from what remains of 
it, to have been built to have resisted time's assaults 
for a thousand years, went rapidly to decay after its 
abandonment in 1537, and three centuries have left 
but massive walls, ruined arches, pillars, and sculp- 



72 ENGLISH MONASTIC POWER SUPPRESSED. 

tured fragments, to recall the glories and triumphs of 
its past history. 

Three hundred and seventy-six monasteries, with all 
their estates and belongings, were by this act confis- 
cated to the king and his heirs, and from that time 
monastic power and influence in England became a 
thing of the past. 



CHAPTER VII. 

How many old English histories and chronicles have 
been ransacked, how many authorities have been looked 
up and references investigated, with regard to the his- 
tory of old Boston in England ? 

An unpretending, ordinary English town, the chief 
port of Lincolnshire, and, on looking up its history, 
found to be what many others in England once were, 
a Roman town or fortification, it is in the midst of a 
flat and what was once a barren country, and situated 
on the river Witham, where it broadens near the sea. 

No seaport on the eastern coast of England was 
more convenient for Holland than old Boston, situ- 
ated in the rich level fens of Lincolnshire, and reach- 
ing the sea by the river Witham. A town of impor- 
tance in 1204 : when a duty was laid on goods, the 
merchants of London paid ,£836, and Boston the 
next largest amount, £780. Boston, also, furnished 17 
ships and 361 men for a navy in 1359. But Boston's 
commercial prosperity began to decline in 1470, on 
account of the departure of the Hanseatic merchants ; 
and the dissolution of the monasteries within its cir- 
cuit, soon after, was another loss to it. In the middle 
of the eighteenth century it had got into a state of 
commercial decay, but has revived, and is now doing a 
good business in the corn and cattle trade, giving 
occupation to a large number of coasting vessels. 

It may be said, without perhaps taking too much 



74 OLD BOSTOX. 

credit to ourselves here in New England, that it is the 
growth and importance of old Boston's modern name- 
sake that caused the former's history to be more care- 
fully looked up in response to the natural curiosity of 
those of later days to know the early history of the 
place from whence the name was derived. 

The original name of Boston, it is supposed, was 
derived from St. Botolph, a pious Saxon, who lived 
about the middle of the seventh century, and who 
founded a monastery there, which was destroyed by 
an army of marauding Danes. In 1541 an author 
(Leland) wrote of it as " Botolphstowne," with its 
"three colleges of Friars — Gray, Black, and Augus- 
tine," and in 1565 its population was about 2380 per- 
sons, according to a MS. in the British Museum. In 
1791 it is noted as a flourishing town on both sides of 
the river Witham, and protected from overflow by 
artificial banks. But old Boston was not so progres- 
sive as its modern namesake, for the returns of its 
population from 1768 to 1831 showed an increase from 
3500 to about 11,250 population. But old Boston 
probably sent more than any other town in England 
of its best and worthiest citizens to colonize America. 

Old Boston is where the spirit of Puritanism was 
kept alive and flourishing, chiefly through the agency 
of John Cotton, during the period of whose ministry 
Winthrop and his company took their departure for 
the New World. Cotton himself followed a short 
time afterwards. Interesting to modern Bostonians, 
therefore, is this ancient town of Lincolnshire, thus 
associated with the Pilgrim Fathers, who laid the 
foundations of this country, the mightiest of republics. 

The Lincolnshire fens are now so well drained and 
cultivated that they are no longer the barren morasses 



THE GRAND CHURCH OF OLD BOSTON. 75 

and desert lands described in the old chronicles, but 
simply a long, level stretch of green meadow-land that 
we traverse as we approach old Boston, and the first 
indication of it that we get is the tall tower rising 
far into the air, a notable landmark, which was of 
service, in ancient times, to mariners in determining 
their course. 

But there is nothing that savors of antiquity in the 
large, well appointed railway station, and, leaving the 
train, we take an omnibus for the Peacock and Royal 
Inn, situated upon the public square or market-place. 
We at once established our respectability and impor- 
tance by ordering two rooms and a private parlor. It 
was the same class of country inn so familiar to trav- 
ellers, with its commercial room, tap-room, bar and bar- 
maid, curious and bewildering passages, low-ceiled 
rooms and old furniture. 

But we must look around the old town, which is now 
the centre of a rich, agricultural district. Its chief 
glory is its cathedral, which the American pilgrim of 
to-day visits with peculiar interest, as the one where his 
pious forefathers worshipped. 

St. Botolph's Church in old Boston, where for twenty 
years John Cotton promulgated his religious teachings, 
was indeed in striking contrast with the humble build- 
ing in which he afterwards officiated in our new Bos- 
ton, for this grand, gray, and lofty-towered cathedral 
will take in thousands of worshippers within its walls. 
Cotton left England in 1633 (a graduate of Trinity 
■College) for America. The settlement of the modern 
Boston was so small at that period that but one small 
meeting-house was required for the whole community 
down to 1648, and that until 1640 had mud walls and 
a thatched roof. This primitive building in new Bos- 



76 INTERIOR OF ST. BOTOLPH's. 

ton, history tells us, was situated on what is now the 
south side of State Street, but was succeeded in 1640 
by a more commodious wooden building on Washington 
Street, nearly opposite State Street, where it stood for 
seventy years, until destroyed by fire. 

But let us turn our attention to the grand church of 
old Boston. The foundation of this church is very 
ancient. History says the church was given to the 
great Benedictine abbey of St. Mary, in York, by Alan 
Bufus of Brittany, in the reign of William the Con- 
queror. The abbot and convent made an exchange of 
it with the crown in the reign of Edward the Fourth 
(about 1475), and the Knights of St. John of Jeru- 
salem exchanged some of their lands in Leicestershire 
for it, soon after, and held it until the dissolution of 
religious houses in England. 

The magnificent tower of this church, the loftiest in 
the kingdom, is said to have been laid on wool-sacks, 
from the fact that, at the period when it was built, Bos- 
ton was one of the ten shipping ports of England, and 
the principal one as to the extent of its shipments, doing 
a large business in wool, leather, and hides, especially 
the first named commodity, and, curiously enough, 
Boston in New England is the principal wool-market 
of the United States to-day. Lincolnshire is also to-day 
one of the principal wool-growing districts of England. 

The tower of the church is said to have been built 
after the model of the great church of Antwerp, and 
is 262 feet 9 inches in height. It is very graceful, 
with great Gothic windows on each of the three sides 
in the lower story to the height of the roof of the nave. 
This story contains what is known as the great west 
window, as well as the west door. Above, in the sec- 
ond division of the steeple, are two Gothic pointed 



MARVELLOUS ARCHITECTURAL BEAUTIES. 77 

windows on each of the three sides. Above this, in a 
third division, is one window on each side again. This 
is the bell-chamber, and at the base of this division an 
external gallery runs around the tower ; and above this 
is a great lantern, formed by arches bent diagonally 
over the angles of the tower, making an octagon of the 
upper part. 

This lantern served as a beacon, and was lighted at 
night, and "rose like a Pharos above the surrounding 
levels." 

The external surface of this superb tower is covered 
with panel-work, and the first story has effective shafted 
buttresses and statues. The great western door has 
some beautiful carved work, and the lantern, with its 
two-light window in each face of the octagon, is a light 
and graceful crown to the whole structure. 

A history of Lincolnshire churches says that, from 
the changes of architecture which are visible in the 
building, it took two hundred years in erecting, and 
was carried forward, during the reigns of the different 
sovereigns. Entering by the Gothic archway of the 
south porch and through the curious and elaborately 
carved ancient doors, we find ourselves directly in front 
of an elegantly carved font, capacious in size, present- 
ing a perfect wealth of carved work, the upper part or 
brim being encircled by a wreath of vine-leaves ex- 
quisitely wrought from the stone. This font was made 
from a solid block of what is called Ancaster stone, a 
white, clear, grained material, and was presented to the 
church by A. J. Beresford Hope, in 1853. 

Once inside, you may look far up to the grand stone 
vaulting of the tower, which is 156 feet above the 
floor. There, in different sections of the beautiful 
groined ceiling, with its rings or octagons of carved 



78 THE COTTON CHAPEL. 

work beautifully executed, in the centre of each, are 
sculptured bosses bearing appropriate religious designs, 
such as Agnus Dei, angels, and emblems. A few steps 
forward and the eye may take in the interior. The 
nave, with its seven pointed arches on each side, on their 
clustered pillars, the magnificent west window, and the 
panelled surface of the lofty walls form a grand and 
imposing view. 

The lofty roof appears to be of carved oak, and the 
whole of the nave is filled with oaken seats facing the 
•east. The pulpit, which is against one of the pillars 
on the south side of the nave, is a fine piece of carved 
work in oak, hexagonal in shape, and its decorations 
the handiwork of artificers in Queen Elizabeth's time. 

The only ancient monuments we saw in the church 
were in one of the aisles ; one of an unknown knight, 
a full-length figure in full armor, helm on head, and 
sword at his hip, and feet resting on a lion. The figure 
was recumbent on a tomb, with representations of 
crowned angels bearing shields, the whole cut from 
alabaster. Another monument was that of a reclining 
lady, upon an altar of black marble. 

In the beautiful chancel are the ancient stalls, over 
seventy in number, many of which have been restored 
and their small turn-up seats decorated, as was usual 
by the ancient wood-carvers, with grotesque caricatures, 
saints and burlesque scenes, as if trying to divert the 
mind of the probable occupant from his devotions or 
serious thoughts. Uncomfortable as these ancient seats 
were, they were contrived so that, should the occupant 
slumber and lose the pose required to keep the seat up- 
right, he would be tumbled upon the pavement, so that 
really he performed penance with his devotion. 

The carved oak communion-table of St. Botolph's, and 



THE "GENEALOGY OF OUR LORD." 79 

the two tall candelabra, twelve feet high, bearing seven 
lights each, will attract the visitor's attention, and the 
magnificent east window command his admiration. 

This window contains seven great upright divisions 
or sections, above which is the pointed Gothic arch, of 
stone tracery. The lower sections are filled with what 
is called the " Genealogy of our Lord," portrayed in 
the beautiful colored glass. There are large-sized fig- 
ures representing the Virgin and Child, the Magi bring- 
ing offerings, the four Evangelists, the Crucifixion, Jesus 
Sitting in Judgment, and other figures, to the number of 
twenty-one, all beautifully executed and surrounded by 
a wealth of ornamentation. Above, in the openings of 
the stone tracery of the arch, are representations of the 
archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, surrounded 
by numerous beautiful designs and decorations. 

Americans, especially New Englanders, will, of 
course, be interested in and visit the South-west Chapel, 
which is known as the Cotton Chapel. This was re- 
stored in 1855, mainly through the efforts of our distin- 
guished fellow-citizen Edward Everett, who raised a 
subscription in this country, and was aided by George 
Peabody, Russell Sturgis, and Joshua Bates, then 
American bankers in London. 

An amount was realized sufficient to cleanse, repair, 
and thoroughly restore the entire chapel, as well as to 
place a beautiful window, filled with stained glass, at 
the west end of it, and a memorial tablet upon the wall. 

The following is a translation of the Latin inscription, 
composed by Mr. Everett, which is upon the tablet : — 

" In perpetual remembrance of John Cotton, who, during the reign 
of James and Charles, was for many years a grave, skilful, learned, 
and laborious Vicar of this Church. Afterwards, on account of the 
lamentable troubles in religious matters in his own country, he sought 



80 "IN MEMORIAM." 

a new settlement in a new world, and remained, even to the end of his 
life, a pastor and teacher of the greatest reputation and of the greatest 
authority in the first church of Boston, in New England, which re- 
ceived its venerable name in honor of Cotton: ccxxv. years having 
passed away since his migration, his descendants and the American 
citizens of Boston were invited to this pious work by their English 
brethren, in order that the name of an illustrious man. the love and 
honor of both worlds, might not longer be banished from that noble 
temple in which he diligently, learnedly, and sacredly expounded the 
divine oracles for so many years ; and they have willingly and grate- 
fully caused this shrine to be restored, and this tablet to be erected, in 
the year of our recovered salvation 1855." 

I venture to give also a list of the subscribers to 
the fund, as being names of typical Bostonians of the 
New England city, and standing for men who have been 
foremost in adding to and upholding those attributes 
which make modern Boston honored among its peers : — 

"Charles Francis Adams, William Turrell Andrews, Nathan Ap- 
pleton, William Appleton, George Bancroft, Martin Brimmer, Edward 
Brooks, Gorham Brooks, Sidney Brooks, Peter Chardon Brooks, John 
P. Cushing, Edward Everett, Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, John 
Chipman Gray, Abbott Lawrence, John Amory Lowell, Jonathan 
Phillips, William Hickling Prescott, David Sears, Nathaniel Brad- 
street Shurtleff, Jared Sparks, John Eliot Thayer, Frederic Tudor, 
John Collins Warren." 

The dimensions of St. Botolph are given as 245 feet 
long and 98 feet w T ide within the walls, and we were 
told that there were 365 steps to the top of the tower, 
equalling the number of days in the year ; twelve col- 
umns supporting the main roof, the number of months 
in the year ; fifty-two windows, equalling the weeks ; 
seven doors, the days in the week ; twenty-four steps 
to the south porch library, hours of the day ; and sixty 
steps to the chancel roof, minutes in the hour. The 
church is said to be the finest parish church in the 
kingdom, and it certainly impresses one by its perfect 



AN OLD ENGLISH TOWN. 81 

harmony of proportions, of clustered pillars, massive 
arches, groined roof, and lofty tower. 

Old Boston town is like many other English towns 
that one visits, and has little of interest to the tourist 
except the church. The houses of the older part of the 
town are not over two or three stories high, and built 
of dark-red bricks. It can rival modern Boston as it 
once was in some of its narrow streets and quaint old 
alley-ways. 

The inhabitants of old Boston do not appear to have 
appreciated the commercial value of antiquities, and 
the traveller who looks for memorials of the Pilgrims 
and John Cotton will be doomed to disappointment. 
The old vicarage in which Cotton lived was taken 
down in 1850. The only two antique buildings of any 
particular significance are the old town-hall and Shod- 
friars' Hall, both near the market-place. 

The former is an old, blackened brick edifice, with a 
Gothic door and big Gothic window over it, and it is 
here that Brewster and others of the Pilgrims were said 
to have been brought up for examination before the 
magistrates, and in the lower story of the building are 
said to have been imprisoned, in some dark little dens 
that are shown there. 

In the basement story is an ancient kitchen, of con- 
siderable size, where cooking used to be done for civic 
feasting in the great hall above, in the second story, 
where two or three hundred guests could be accommo- 
dated. This building is really all, except the church 
already described, that can in any way be connected 
with the Pilgrims. 

Shodfriars' Hall is a quaint old building, of wood and 
plaster, that has been braced up and restored. Old 
Boston is to-day busy improving some of its advantages, 



82 MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 

that have long been neglected, for clown at the river- 
front we find the work of building a new dock for ship- 
ping had been performed in excellent, solid, substantial 
style. Boston owed its early commercial importance to 
its geographical position and its river and harbor, while 
for a port of transit to the north of France, Holland, 
and Flanders it was one of the best on the east coast of 
England. In their modern improvements for shipping 
and receiving merchandise, the people of the place 
wisely conclude to make the most of the position, 
which still has many commercial advantages for receiv- 
ing goods from the interior for export and merchandise 
from abroad for distribution. A large area is enclosed, 
on the river front, and storehouses have been built for 
merchandise, and tracks been laid connecting with dif- 
ferent railways of the kingdom, so that the wool, corn, 
and cattle business may be fostered, pushed, and im- 
proved by old Boston's merchants of to-day. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

BERLIN. 

It is a long leap from old Boston to Berlin, but the 
reader is spared the details of the journey, including 
the discomforts of the British Channel, which have, 
after so many years, only been partially alleviated. 
Since my last visit to the Prussian capital, some dozen 
years ago, there has been a notable improvement in the 
hotels of that city. A fine new one, the Continental, 
at the time of my visit (1886), was admirably kept, 
and with most of those appurtenances and appoint- 
ments that Americans know so well how to appreciate, 
such as a good elevator, luxurious bath-rooms, and a 
fairly good cuisine — except the iron-clad bread that pre- 
vails here. The outer crusts of the breakfast-rolls 
require a blacksmith's hammer, or the teeth of a croco- 
dile, to crack them. Berlin is a good point from 
which to start for St. Petersburg, I was told, and so I 
found it to be, as the sequel will prove. 

The American flag, hanging out from a window on 
the Unter den Linden, had a most homelike and friendly 
look to it, and the hospitable quarters of the American 
Exchange in Europe, which it indicated, are pleasant 
indeed to the wandering American tourist, for here he 
can hear his own language spoken, read Boston and 
New York newspapers, and hear the latest news from 
home by telegraph, including embezzlements, forgeries, 
flights to Canada, railroad accidents, and terrible con- 

83 



84 A STAID GERMAN CITY. 

flagrations ; all these events, having precedence as 
news to be sent over the ocean, make America appear 
a perfect pandemonium of crime and horror when it is 
seen at this distance. 

Large, enterprising, and well governed as Berlin is, 
the American cannot fail to notice how much more 
quiet, methodical, and deliberate everything is there 
than in any of our American cities. The tremendous 
rush, hurry, and spirit of briskness and enterprise are 
lacking, although, since I was last there, horse-cars 
traverse the streets, conductors signal you and shout 
out the streets and localities as they pass, and the gilded 
youth dash rapidly through the broad avenues in their 
carriages, and crowds throng the great retail business 
streets ; but there is not that restlessness or nervous- 
ness that characterizes an American city, and to the 
average American tourist there is a feeling of restful 
comfort. I certainly felt some degree of it in noticing 
that three or four days were required to make a new 
turn-out and to relay about one hundred feet of horse- 
railroad track in one of the streets, which would have 
been accomplished in one-fourth of the time in New 
York or Boston, and, it is but justice to add, been 
about one-fourth as well done in the matter of thorough- 
ness of workmanship and the good condition in which 
street and pavement were left. 

" But I am going to Russia in a day or two," I 
remarked to a friend whom I met one day on Unter 
den Linden. " What step shall I take first ? " 

" Secure James Pilley, the English guide there, if 
you can ; he lias lived over twenty years in St. Peters- 
burg, speaks Russian like a native, knows every sight 
and everything worth seeing in the country." 

Prompt use of the telegraph, and of letters from a 



FROM BERLIN TO PETERSBURG. 85 

friend of the noted guide, in Berlin, achieved the 
desired result. 

Now, then, as to the method and manner of going 
from Berlin to St. Petersburg. First, it is absolutely 
necessary to have a passport, and this must first be 
vised by the American and then by the Russian consul. 
Then you must get some money changed into Russian 
paper currency for immediate use, if required on the 
road or on arrival. Of course, in Russian cities like 
St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, etc., your letter of 
credit is as promptly recognized as elsewhere. 

The journey by rail from Berlin to St. Petersburg, 
which you begin at 8 : 30 in the morning, occupies 
all that day and all night, and all the next day until 
10 P. M. 

First to obtain through tickets, which are bought at 
a railroad ticket office on the Unter den Linden, and in 
which transaction we called in the aid of one of the 
English-speaking clerks of the American Exchange. 

The price of a ticket from Berlin to the Russian 
frontier was 67 marks and a fraction in the first-class 
carriages, or about $17 United States currency ; from 
the frontier to St. Petersburg you pay, in Russian 
roubles, an additional 86 roubles, the value of a rouble 
being about fifty cents, which makes $18 additional, 
or $35 for the whole distance. The proper thing to 
do is to buy a through ticket two days in advance, at 
the office above mentioned, and also to have the ticket 
clerk telegraph on to the frontier and get answer to 
your despatch, securing a sleeping-compartment for 
you in the train that will leave there soon after your 
arrival and custom-house examination. 

As an old traveller I took this precaution, and like- 
wise to get answer back that the compartment was 



86 RAILWAY CUISINE. 

secured. I then had the name of the official at the 
Russian frontier station, to whom this despatch had 
been sent, written down for me, both in Russian and 
German, by the clerk in attendance at the Berlin office, 
with a line from him in the former language to the 
clerk at the frontier. 

The effort to procure a modern guide-book was fruit- 
less. Murray's latest was twelve years old (1875), 
Badaeker has issued none, and Harper's was unattain- 
able. As to luggage, each passenger is allowed fifty-six 
pounds free, and no charge was made for the hand-lug- 
gage ; for some unaccountable reason, however, it cost 
more to bring the same amount of luggage out of Rus- 
sia than it did to carry it into that empire. I could 
not get much information respecting meals en route, or 
where they were to be taken ; in fact, very little of the 
real practical information one really wants ; but, hav- 
ing had experience at German and Prussian railroad 
restaurants, where beer, sausage, raw-ham sandwiches, 
and tobacco are the chief creature-comforts provided 
for hungry mortals, we took the precaution to have a 
cold fowl, some of the sweet, iron-crusted bread, and a 
bottle of claret put up, to provide against accidents ; 
and it was well we did, for as long as we were in Prus- 
sian territory, it was one unceasing deluge of beer, 
while the sausage, raw-ham sandwiches, cheese, and 
similar comestibles were anything but inviting. But, 
presto ! after entering Russian territory, the style 
changed to the well appointed French restaurant, with 
light, soft bread, coffee, clean, nn-beer-stained buffets 
with French cakes, light wines, appetizing goodies, and 
fruits. 

The first-class railway carriage in which we started 
from Berlin was built somewhat after the style of what 



A CONTINENTAL NUISANCE. 87 

is known in America as the Mann Boudoir Car. Our 
compartment had seats for six persons, and the approach 
to it was by an aisle running along the side of the car, 
which was furnished with lavatories at each end. Our 
compartment was abundantly furnished with racks and 
hooks for small baggage, which are so much needed and 
so seldom provided in the Pullman and Wagner cars of 
America. The seats were arranged as in the English 
cars — three back to the locomotive and three facing 
it. There were five of us occupying the compartment 
— two German or Prussian merchants, a Russian young 
gentleman, myself and companion. 

It is the rule posted up that, if none of those in the 
carriage object, any one may smoke ; and two of our 
companions were puffing like furnaces, to m}^ own infinite 
disgust at least. Indeed, upon the continent the inflic- 
tion of tobacco smoke that. a non-smoker has to endure 
will rival any of the same nuisance, coupled even 
though it is with expectoration, in America. It does 
seem as if some travellers cannot enjoy a mountain 
ascent, a railway ride, a sight-seeing stroll, or a diligence 
journey, without sucking at cigarettes or pipes, and 
blowing this offensive cloud into the faces of their fel- 
low-travellers. 

I remember that the open carriages of the railway 
up Mt. Rigi, in Switzerland, were an excuse for the 
half-dozen Frenchmen and Germans to puff their vile 
cigarettes and abominable pipes, sending back their 
vile odors into the nostrils of those seated behind 
them, and seriously interfering with one of the grand- 
est panoramic views ever seen. And the notices re- 
specting smoking in all the railroad carriages of the 
continent, the carriages provided especially for smokers 
there as well as at home, prove what tyranny is exer- 



88 UNPKONOXJNCEABIiE NAMES. 

cised by the tobacco-smoker over the rest of the com- 
munity. One satisfaction to the man who does not 
smoke is having a lady as his travelling companion 
abroad ; she saves him this infliction of smoke in rail- 
way carriages, diligences, and elsewhere ; whereas, if 
alone, being a man, it is presumed he has no right to 
object. 

One of our smoking companions left after a four- 
hour ride, and another when we reached Kreuze, and 
the other two at Konigsberg, the ancient Prussian cap- 
ital. The remaining passenger, a little, light-haired 
Russian whose acquaintance we made over a glass of 
claret, proved to be the private secretary of the Duch- 
ess of Edinburgh, on his way to St. Petersburg. He 
spoke English fluently, and was of much service to us. 

The railroad route which we took from Berlin was 
via Kreuze, Konigsberg, Eydkuhnen, Wierzbolow, 
Wilna, Dunaburg, Pskov, Luga, and other towns with 
unpronounceable names. Eydkuhnen and Wierzbolow 
are respectively the Prussian and Russian frontier sta- 
tions, and are about one mile apart. Luggage is exam- 
ined at the latter as yon go into Russia, and at the 
former as you come out. The distance from Berlin to 
the Russian frontier is 450 miles, and from thence to 
Petersburg 560, a total of 1010 miles. It might be 
accomplished in much less time than is taken, Avere it 
not for the comparative!}" low rate of speed, and the 
Russian custom of stopping twenty minutes or half an 
hour at every large station. 

They have a custom on the railroad line of ringing a 
bell just outside the station, as a warning for passen- 
gers, which is peculiar and effective where stops of any 
length of time are made, which is this : Five minutes 
before the train is to start, an official runs the tongue 



" PASSPORTS." 89 

of the bell sharply around its rim, and concludes with 
one sharp tap ; two minutes later the tongue is again 
scraped around it, concluding with two smart taps ; and 
two minutes later still, it is scraped around three times, 
concluding with three smart taps, the last signal, and 
that for closing the car doors ; for one minute after 
this last bell-tap, the conductor or guard sounds his 
sharp whistle that all is right, the engineer responds 
with a like blast, and the train starts. 

This system prevailed all along this line in Prussia 
and Russia, and was a good one, being easily under- 
stood by all, the first alarm giving time to pay for one's 
meal and start, and the second letting you know that 
two minutes remained to return to your carriage. 

At midnight we arrived at the Russian frontier, and, 
on descending upon the brilliantly lighted platform of 
the station, the first person we encountered was a tall 
soldier, in gray overcoat, dog-skin and scarlet shako, 
surmounted by a pompon. He was also booted and 
spurred, and wore a long sabre, as if just dismounted 
from a cavalry troop. He pointed to an open door, and 
ejaculated : 

" Passe-ports." 

We delivered our passports, and, on entering, found 
ourselves in one of those large rooms with a raised 
platform running round its entire length for the bag- 
gage examination, so familiar to European travellers 
who have crossed frontiers on the continent. 

The luggage was rapidly brought in, and the pro- 
duction of a few copecks (a live-copeck piece is the 
size of an old-fashioned United States cent) caused the 
porters to j)lace your trunks as you want them. It is 
well to remember that Russia is pre-eminently a coun- 
try of bribes, and that the quiet passage of a few 



00 VALUE OF DEFERENCE. 

copecks to laborers, or of roubles to higher officials, 
accomplishes wonders in the way of convenience, espe- 
cially for American travellers, who seem to be, when 
known as such, regarded with more favor than those of 
other nationalities. 

The passports were all carried to one end of the room, 
to the desk of a uniformed official, and from thence 
were brought forward, two or three at a time, by his 
subordinates, and held up for the owners to claim, who 
afterwards pointed out their luggage for examination. 
Observing that this examination was more thorough 
with some trunks than others, my companion proceeded 
to the official desk, and. after profoundly salaaming with 
marked respect the great man at that post, proceeded in 
the German tongue to acquaint him that two American 
tourists had honored him with their company, and 
would he deign to detail two of his officers to examine 
and affix his vise to their luggage, etc? Moreover, 
would he accept the assurances of our distinguished 
consideration? 

The effect of this profound deference by two first- 
class passengers to this great chief, before a circle of 
third-class passengers, as well as his subordinates, sur- 
rounding him, had its effect. Our passports were 
promptly handed over with a deferential bow, two 
officials were detailed, who proceeded at once to our 
luggage, which went through the slightest form pos- 
sible of inspection, and we were handed cards which 
passed us by the guard at the door into the buffet and 
waiting-room. 

At this place we were to obtain our tickets and 
places in the sleeping-car for St. Petersburg, which had 
been telegraphed for from Berlin : and here the fore- 
sight of having the official's name in Russian, and the 



A COMFORTABLE JOURNEY. 91 

line from the Berlin clerk, came in play, for, although 
the old fellow spoke and understood German, he at first 
stoutly denied the receipt of any dispatch, until that 
paper was shown him, when he promptly produced two 
tickets for what proved an excellent sleeping-compart- 
ment. 

We were detained for over an hour at the frontier, 
and it was nearly 2 A. M. before our couches were 
made ready by the car porter. The car was divided 
into a series of two and four-berthed compartments, 
opening upon an aisle running the whole length of the 
railway carriage, with lavatories at each end. The run- 
ning was remarkably easy and comfortable, and we en- 
joyed a good night's rest, breakfasting in the morning, at 
eight, at a good, clean, well kept buffet, upon chops, eggs, 
hot rolls, and deliciously flavored tea, served, Russian 
fashion, with thin slices of lemon floating on its surface. 
Chocolate, cold meats, fowls, good sandwiches, and all 
the eatables usually found at French restaurants were 
provided at these buffets, which, as a general thing, I 
am constrained to say, were far superior to those on the 
lines of many of our great lines of railroads in America. 

We found our Russian railway carriage to be com- 
fortable and well ventilated, and one peculiarity of the 
water-faucets was that they send a stream upwards so as 
to fall upon the hands, and no stopper was in the basins 
to retain the water. While at the stations where we 
stopped, the women who were in waiting with water 
for those passengers who desired to perform their ablu- 
tions poured the water upon their hands, in the Eastern 
style and according to Russian custom. 

The scenery through which we passed was of but 
little interest, the surface of the country reminding one 
of some of the wilder parts of the State of Maine, 



92 ARRIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG. 

while the stations gave us but little opportunity to see 
anything of the towns except a distant view of them. 
The houses of the common people appear to be rough 
log shanties, and the fields rudely and poorly culti- 
vated. 

The uninteresting character of the landscape, as seen 
from the windows of the railway carriage, made the 
English novels, which all old travellers take care to 
provide themselves with, welcome companions ; but we 
were heartily glad when, at half-past ten that night, the 
train rolled into the well lighted railway station at St. 
Petersburg, and, as we emerged from the railway car- 
riage we were greeted by a well dressed Englishman, 
calling us by name in our own language, and stating 
that a carriage was in waiting for us. 

This was James Pilley, the English guide, a com- 
pact, well built man, about forty-five years of age, who 
gave a few rapid orders to some men in attendance 
respecting the conveyance of our luggage, and then 
escorted us, through the crowd of drosky-drivers that 
surrounded the station, to a well appointed two-horse 
carriage, into which we stepped with him, and were 
soon speeding along through the broad streets to the 
hotel, some two miles away. On through the well 
lighted streets we rode, until at last the Grand Hotel 
d'Europe was reached, a building nearly as large, and 
with a much more extensive frontage, than the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, New York. 

The entrance hall of the hotel was far better arranged 
and more comfortable than the Grand or Metropole 
in London, and the room accommodations were better 
and cheaper. 

Here, on arrival, we were received, at the foot of the 
marble steps that led up to the main floor, by a head- 



RUSSIAN PRESS-CENSORSHIP. 93 

waiter, who spoke English and French. Inside, at the 
right, was a large office, where the chief porter, also a 
linguist, ran the business of the hotel, such as receiving 
letters, caring for room-keys, and in all respects like the 
American hotel clerk except that there was no counter 
separating his domain from public intrusion. At the 
left was a large, convenient, and well lighted reading- 
room, with newspapers and magazines, including Amer- 
ican and English newspapers, but I noticed portions of 
the latter had been blacked out, or completely erased 
with black ink, by the post-office authorities, before 
being permitted to be displayed. 

A whole page of the London Punch had been thus 
treated, which, I afterwards ascertained, contained a 
caricature of the Russian Bear and Bulgaria ; and a half- 
column of the London Times, reflecting upon Russia's 
policy, had been similarly obliterated. 

This is performed by the censor of the press, through 
whose hands all publications that come into the empire 
pass before being delivered to the parties to whom they 
are directed. 

He has a large office, which, in general appearance, 
resembles the editorial rooms of a great American 
daily newspaper. A large corps of assistants open the 
mails, and submit to him all questionable matter. Any-* 
thing reflecting upon the government or its policy, or 
the royal family, is promptly tabooed, and a roller of 
black ink is passed over it, in newspaper or magazine, 
leaving a dense black space, through which not a single 
word can be discerned. 

Newspapers in Russia, even those favoring and flat- 
tering the government, do not amount to much. The 
censorship of every article referring to the subjects 
above named, or even to visits of the royal family or 



94 RUSSIAN ILLITERACY. 

facts relating to the army, causes so much delay in the 
delivery of the paper that it is hardly worth while to 
attempt the publication of news relating to politics, or 
to any one or anything connected with the empire. 
Then, Russia is far from being a newspaper-reading 
nation. Right here in St. Petersburg it was amazing 
how few of the common work-people and artisans 
could read and write. Not one in a dozen of the 
drosky-drivers could read the signboards in the streets, 
and I do not recall a single instance of seeing one of 
them, or any of the artizan or laboring class, reading a 
newspaper or printed sheet. 

The Russian alphabet is different from that used in 
the rest of Europe, and is composed of thirty-six char- 
acters, which seem to have been adapted from the Greek 
alphabet, with the addition of a certain number of new 
characters. These characters are Greek, however, to 
the common people, and for their information the front 
and sides of most of the stores are adorned with picto- 
rial representations of what may be had within. 

The butcher has legs of mutton, joints, or an ox de- 
lineated on his sign ; the baker, heaps of bread ; the 
music-dealer, horns, fiddles, and drums ; the clothing- 
dealer, portraits of coats, stockings, and other garments ; 
— and this illustrative sign-painting is carried to such 
an extent that some of it had to be translated to us by 
our guide — such as, for instance, that of a midwife, 
and another of a surgeon, or some practitioner who 
drew teeth and applied leeches. 

It is stated that the proportion of ignorant to educated 
people in the empire is nearly seventy per cent., and 
that of the one hundred million inhabitants of Russia 
sixty million were either among the serfs freed by Alex- 
ander II., twenty-five years ago, or their children. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Grand Hotel d'Europe is situated upon the cor- 
ner of Place Michael and Nevski Prospect, the latter a 
very wide and straight street three miles long, with a 
modern horse-railway running through the middle of it. 
This grand thoroughfare is the great Broadway of the 
city, and lias seyeral superb churches, the Alexander 
Theatre, Imperial Library, and other notable buildings 
upon it. We were escorted to our room, a large 
double-bedded apartment in the third story, the four 
windows commanding an extensive view of the broad 
avenue as far as the eye could reach. This apartment 
was handsomely furnished, like the leading hotels of 
America, with mirrors, sofas, arm-chairs, French clocks, 
and with the addition of screens to place before the 
beds, which were excellent, and writing-tables for the 
guests. The waiters who answered our bell spoke Ger- 
man, and we got on very well with them. The price per 
day for this room was three dollars for two persons, 
with an additional charge of twent}^-five cents a day for 
service. A good table d'hote dinner was served for a 
rouble and a half, about seventy-five cents ; indeed, I 
was surprised at the excellence of the cuisine, the 
promptness of the service, and the moderate rate of 
charge, as I had been led to expect the opposite from 
all English accounts I had read, George Augustus 
Sala's included. 

As soon as we were fairly domiciled in our apart- 
ment, we were waited upon by the English-speaking 

95 



9b THE NEVSKI PROSPECT. 

head-waiter with the hotel book, in which we inscribed 
our names, and then surrendered to him our passports, 
for which the landlord of the hotel became responsible, 
as he must report us and take them to the chief of 
police. 

Indeed, the landlord thus becomes the custodian of, 
and in a measure responsible for, his foreign guests, 
inasmuch as they cannot leave St. Petersburg without 
these important documents, or, if required while there, 
can be held till they are produced ; it will be seen also 
there is not much danger of the hotel guest's departing 
without satisfying his host as to his intention and 
where he is going, as he must notify him the day pre- 
vious, in order that the passport may be obtained prop- 
erly vised for that purpose. 

On rising after a good night's rest, we looked out 
upon the broad avenue from our windows upon the 
novel sights before us ; nearly opposite was a little one- 
story, open-fronted temple, erected to some saint or for 
some holy deed, and within was a shrine with burning 
candles, a holy-water font, and the usual decorations. 
Every Russian who passed this on foot raised his hat 
and crossed himself ; some of the more devout halted, 
crossed their arms upon their breasts, bowed three 
times, and repeated a prayer. Others, besides dipping 
the ringers in the font, took a drink therefrom in a tiny 
tin cup prepared for that purpose. 

The healthfullness or cleanliness of drinking water in 
which hundreds of hands have been dipped, including 
the begrimed ones of workmen and those of filthy 
beggars, may well be questioned. Indeed, it is affirmed 
that infectious diseases have been transmitted in this 
manner. The more superstitions Russian, however, 
may imagine that by drinking the water he carries 



NOVEL SIGHTS. 97 

away more holiness than can be conveyed to the fore- 
head by a touch of the finger. 

It was a novel sight to see a modern street-car pass 
with the roof crowded with passengers, every one of 
whom took off his hat and made the sign of the 
cross as they went by this shrine. Those who passed 
without reverence, we were told, were Tartars. They 
are largely employed as laborers and servants in St. 
Petersburg, and may be distinguished from having 
neither beards nor moustaches, all hair being carefully 
plucked from their faces. 

The curiously lettered signs, the bulb-topped steeples, 
reminding one of Turkish or Moorish architecture, and 
in some cases having the cross rising from out the 
crescent on their steeples, the tall fire or watch towers, 
the curiously costumed drosky-drivers, and the occa- 
sionally sheepskin-clad peasant, all were novelties. 

The costume of the working-people seems to be in- 
variably a pair of long boots, into which the coarse 
trousers are thrust, after the style of a California 
miner. Then the Russian wears his red or blue flan- 
nel shirt outside his pantaloons, and over it a coarse, 
brown, dirty, crash-towel-looking blouse. A face of 
dense stupidity, surrounded by a forest of unkempt 
hair and beard, completes his description. 

Acting upon the suggestion of our guide, we en- 
gaged a first-class two-horse open carriage by the day. 
In fact, having but comparatively brief time for our 
sight-seeing, we gave our guide carte blanche to do the 
best possible, in order that we might make the best use 
of the time at our command. 

The ordinary droskies are common and dirty enough, 
but good ones can be had by those who want them. 
The drosky is a low, four-wheeled carriage drawn by 



98 THE ISVOSTCHIK AND HIS DROSKY. 

one horse and with seats for two passengers. The 
driver sits upon a seat slightly elevated, in front, and 
the space for the passenger is barely sufficient to 
accommodate his drawn-np knees. 

The drosky is to St. Petersburg what the cab is to 
London and is found at all railway stations and on the 
principal streets. Many of the drivers are young 
countrymen who have been attracted to the city by 
the large wages paid to drosky-drivers, about a dollar 
a day. The more fashionable carriages are of the same 
model as our victorias, well fitted, with good springs, 
and as comfortable as could be desired. 

It is said the Russian drosky-driver has no regular 
charge, and, like his prototype all over the world, con- 
siders those who use his vehicle his regular prey. How 
tourists with no knowledge of the Russian tongue get 
on with him, I am at loss to know. Our excellent 
guide spared us all difficulties of this description, how- 
ever. 

A drosky engaged by the day means from about 8 A. m. 
till midnight, and the price of our carriage, which was 
a sort of open barouche, better than ordinary droskies, 
was ten roubles a day, with an extra rouble and a half 
for the driver. . 

Our guide sat upon the box with the driver, and we 
occupied the back seat of the vehicle, which was drawn 
by two splendid black stallions. The harness, with the 
exception of traces, was exceedingly light, and we sped 
through the streets at the rate of six or eight miles an 
hour, at a smart trot, the peculiar cry of our driver 
warning all humbler vehicles, and wandering pedestri- 
ans, to get out of the way, which they did most 
promptly and speedily. 

Our ride was made all the more enjoyable from the 



A CITY OF MAGNIFICENT DISTANCES. 99 

fact that the wheels of the vehicle were tired with in- 
dia-rubber, so that we were spared the rattle of the 
wheels as an interruption to conversation or our guide's 
descriptions. The driver — or isvostchik, as he is called 
in Russian — has an odd costume. His hat looks like an 
old-fashioned bell-crowned beaver, that had been razed 
by taking out the middle portion ; a long, green sort of 
dressing-gown, reaching nearly to the heels, was but- 
toned over to the left, and ornamented with bunches of 
silver buttons at the right side, and bound round with 
a bright-colored sash ; the long boots, into which the 
baggy pantaloons were thrust, completed the costume. 
The Russian driver seldom whips his horses ; ours merely 
held a short-handled whip out at right angles with his 
body, and his horses were off at full speed. He was a 
capital driver, and whirled us through the streets by 
aid of voice, rein, and whip signal with great skill. 

What strikes one, at first, in St. Petersburg, is the 
grand scale on which everything is laid out ; the long 
streets, twice as wide as Broadway, or like the great 
avenues at Washington, enormous squares in which 
thousands of troops might be manoeuvred, huge pub- 
lic buildings and churches, great barracks with thou- 
sands of feet of frontage, — everything appears to have 
been projected as for some stupendous capital and huge 
population yet to be. 

The population of St. Petersburg is said to be over 
seven hundred thousand ; its great, broad, and regular 
streets and huge squares cover more than thirty square 
miles of territory. And when you come to reflect that 
this vast and magnificent city is built upon a quaking 
morass, and its huge churches and palaces, that over- 
whelm you with their vastness and splendor, are built 
upon a forest of piles, sunk in a trembling bog, but a 



100 A STUPENDOUS UNDERTAKING. 

little above the level of the Baltic Sea, and that snow 
and ice reign here for five months of the year, yon are 
astonished at the pertinacity of Peter in choosing a 
spot with so many natural difficulties to overcome, and 
still more astonished at the manner in which those 
obstacles were met and defeated, and at the extent 
and splendor of a city that two centuries ago was not 
in existence. 

The first brick building here was built in 1710, and 
the great structure known as the Admiralty started in 
1711. The difficulties of building the city must have 
been tremendous. But, tremendous as they were, that 
gigantic, irrepressible, savage genius, Peter the Great, 
overcame them, but at a terrific expense of human life. 
The conscripted peasants from every part of Russia, 
that like the ancient Israelites wrought under the task- 
master's lash, must have perished by thousands in the 
effort. But the effort was successful, and stands a 
wonder to the generation that to-day contemplates the 
result. 

The river Neva runs into the Bay of Cronstadt, 
breaking up as it does so into little branches, and form- 
ing numerous islands near the mouth. St. Petersburg 
rests on the bank of the river, and these islands are 
connected with the latter by the superb Nicholas Bridge, 
a structure with grand iron arches, and piers of granite 
of great strength, built, evidently, to resist the fall 
floods and spring outgo of ice. There are other 
bridges, floating ones, so constructed as to be removed 
during the winter. The Nicholas Bridge, however, is 
a broad and beautiful highway, as well as a splendid 
specimen of bridge-building. 

The tall fire-towers, with their watchmen, are a feat- 
ure here. These lofty towers communicate with each 



THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 101 

other at night by means of a series of colored lanterns, 
and by day by other signals, indicating in exactly what 
quarter a fire breaks out, and where assistance is 
wanted. Fires are dreaded here, especially during the 
winter, when the river is frozen over ; these towers and 
the spires, huge churches, the enormous and splendidly 
built government buildings, the massive granite qua} T s, 
bridges and canals, with their crowd of boats and 
shipping, strike the stranger with astonishment. The 
streets are all broad and well kept, narrow lanes and 
alleys being the exception. 

There are soldiers in groups, singly, and in pairs, seen 
at every turn, in their long and not over-clean coats 
and flat caps, the Cossacks of the Guard appearing to 
be the cleanest, best kept, and most soldier-like. 

There were said to be eighty thousand troops in the 
garrison ; one does not need to be long in Russia to be 
impressed with her great military strength and re- 
sources. A recent article published in England by Sir 
Charles Dilke, extracts from which were published in 
the Russian papers, states that Russia is the gainer 
from the awe she inspires on all hands as a power of 
unknown strength. She has not only a large army on 
paper, but also in fact. In times of peace, the army 
of Russia — including the " irregulars " and the Cos- 
sacks — numbers eight hundred and ninety thousand 
men, while in war she can and would raise an army of 
four million, and, in case of need, six million men. 
The Russians have as many field-pieces (cannon) as the 
French or the German, while the Russian cavalry is 
equal in numbers and efficiency to the cavalry of both 
these western powers combined, and would outnumber 
the combined cavalry of Germany and Austria. Sir 
Charles, besides, fails to see anything desperate in the 



102 COMPARATIVE STATISTICS. 

financial difficulties of Russia, considering that, with 
her practically limitless natural resources, — Siberia 
alone equalling the United States in extent of terri- 
tory, — the country seems bound to yield large rev- 
enues. 

The official report on the Russian army lately pub- 
lished contains the following particulars: On the 1st 
of January, 1886, there were 824,762 men, including 
8000 volunteers, in the active army. 

The reserve amounted to 1,600,815, in addition, thus 
making a total of 2,425,557 soldiers whom Russia could 
bring into the field at need. In Germany the maxi- 
mum of the regular army and the landwehr combined 
is computed at 1,800,000 men. Moreover, Russia has 
at its disposal 2,160,000 militia, liable to be called upon 
in time of war to recruit the ranks of the regular army. 

The number of young men annually liable to the 
conscription is 852,000, of whom about one-half are 
exempted by lot. If the term of service were reduced 
from five to three years, the state would, in a short 
time, be able to have 4,000,000 regular troops, without 
having recourse to the militia reserves. The Russian 
journals refer with jubilation to these practically in- 
exhaustible resources as compared with other coun- 
tries. 

At present there is no such thing as a force of irreg- 
ulars, but it is pointed out that nuclei for troops of 
that description exist in ample measure among the 
tribes of Central Asia, of the Caucasus, and of the 
Transcaspian provinces. 

In addition to 235,000 conscripts to be called out 
this year, 2400 new recruits are to be raised in Kuban, 
Terek, and the Transcaucasian province. 

Our first day's sight-seeing took us to St. Isaac's 



st. Isaac's cathedral. 103 

Cathedral, which is at one end of the Nevski Pros- 
pect, the monastery of Alexander Nevski, three miles 
away, being at the other. 

St. Isaac's stands in one of the largest open spaces in 
the city, and is surrounded by other magnificent build- 
ings and monuments ; on approaching it we passed 
through a grand and lofty archway, from each side of 
which, in a sort of semicircle, extended wings of tall 
and handsome buildings, forming one side of a vast 
square, in the centre of which stood the Alexander 
Column, surmounted by the figure of an angel bearing 
a cross. It is a monolith of red granite, eighty-four 
feet in height, and stands on a pedestal twenty-four 
feet high, the whole height being one hundred and 
fifty feet. The shaft is the largest monolith in the 
world. The pedestal is a beautifully finished piece of 
work, and weighs four hundred tons. It is an enor- 
mous cube of twenty-five feet, of red granite, and 
bears the inscription : " To Alexander I., Grateful 
Russia." 

Opposite stands the Winter Palace, which, with the 
exception of the palace of Versailles and the Vatican 
at Rome, is the largest palace in the world designed for 
a residence, and at the left rises the magnificent cathe- 
dral, grand in its proportions and simple in its architec- 
ture. One should stand and view it for a while, to 
take in all its noble porticos, magnificent dome, grand 
entrances, superb, highly polished monoliths, and its 
wealth of carved stone-work. It is the grandest cathe- 
dral in Northern Europe, and I cannot recall one, save 
St. Peter's at Rome, that so impressed me with its 
grandeur and beauty. 

It is built in the usual form of a Greek cross, of four 
equal sides, having an imposing entrance at each of 



104 THE GRAND ENTRANCES. 

these sides. At each of these entrances are three 
broad flights of steps, of Finland granite, and each one 
of these flights of steps is cut from one solid block of 
granite, implying an enormous outlay of labor and 
expense. Indeed, the display of the products of Rus- 
sia's quarries and mines of granite, malachite, por- 
phyry, lapis lazuli, rhodonite, and other stones, as seen 
in the superb columns in this church, both within and 
without, strikes the visitor with wonder and amaze- 
ment by their size, cutting, and exquisite finish. 

Each of the great entrances to the cathedral has 
twenty-eight magnificent pillars supporting its portico, 
and each of these is sixty feet in height, seven feet in 
diameter ; all are monoliths or single pieces of granite, 
perfectly round and beautifully polished and wrought. 
Their Corinthian capitals are of bronze, and uphold an 
enormous frieze of stone, above which is the ornamen- 
tal pediment — that triangular part of the portico 
bounded by the edges of the roof; upon the point or 
summit of each of the pediments was a group of huge 
bronze figures. Recollect there are four of these grand 
entrances, each with pillars sixty feet high, with their 
Corinthian capitals and bases of bronze ; one hundred 
and twelve pillars in all, as smooth as if made from 
run metal, and larger than those in the Pantheon at 
Rome. 

In the pediments and at the angles and corners of 
the building are huge bronze figures of martyrs, saints, 
and apostles. The cupola which rises from the centre 
is two hundred and ninety-six feet in height, and, as I 
looked up at its great dome glittering with its golden 
covering, I counted the beautiful granite pillars up 
there that supported it, thirty in number, and just 
above them a circle of about that number of openings 



AN ARCHITECTURAL WONDER. 105 

or windows ; then came the glorious dome, and rising 
above it, flashing in the sunlight, was the huge gilded 
cross, at an altitude of three hundred and thirty-six feet 
above the ground. There are four smaller cupolas, at 
angles of the building, in which bells are placed. 

The great bronze figures that adorn the pediments 
are eight feet high, and my guide stated that there 
were no fewer than sixty-three statues and fifty-one 
bas-reliefs, and nearly a hundred alto-relievo busts. 
The principal dome is built of iron, and is sixty-six feet 
in diameter. It is covered with copper and overlaid 
with gold, one hundred and eighty-five pounds (avoir- 
dupois) of the precious metal being required for the 
gilding. 

Round and round this architectural wonder and tri- 
umph you should go again and again to get a realizing 
sense of its wonderful proportions, to grasp it in your 
mind and carry away the never-to-be-forgotten impres- 
sion that it creates, like St. Peter's at Rome. How this 
vast weight could be sustained- upon the swampy soil 
of St. Petersburg is a wonder. . It is said that myriads 
of piles, each twenty-one feet in length, were driven 
for its foundation, and at an expense of over a million of 
dollars. The whole building had cost, when completed, 
with its magnificent marble carvings and decorations, 
over fifteen millions of dollars. The cathedral was 
consecrated in 1858. 

But if amazed at the grand proportions and simple 
architecture of the exterior, how much more is the 
visitor astonished by the splendor and wealth of the 
interior ! It is a bewildering mass of magnificent mar- 
ble, precious stones, gilding, and sumptuous carving 
and decoration. Ingenuity seems to have been ex- 
hausted in the elegant working of obdurate and stub- 



106 BARBARIC SPLENDOR. 

born stone into beautiful architectural proportions, and 
in presenting costly material in such abundance as to 
render its value, there at least, apparently insignificant. 

There are great malachite pillars thirty feet high, 
huge columns of lapis lazuli worth thirty thousand dol- 
lars each, superb rhodonite work, a sort of rose-colored 
granite, and another the color of black lead, nearly as 
hard as iron, but susceptible of exquisite polish, and 
wrought so beautifully by the stone-cutters and sculp- 
tors that it looked like run metal. 

The entire floors and walls of the cathedral are of 
the costliest and most elegant native marbles, of various 
colors ; on every side, jasper, porphyry, and other valu- 
able stone are wrought into the building from floor to 
ceiling. There is a small sanctuary or inner temple, 
which is a gorgeous affair, its beautiful dome being 
upheld by eight Corinthian pillars of malachite, each 
eight feet high. These pillars, my guide-book tells me, 
contain thirty-four thousand pounds of malachite, and 
cost twenty-five thousand pounds sterling. 

The magnificent proportions of the great dome, 
the gorgeousness of the golden screen, or iconastos, 
which shuts off a sort of inner sanctuary for the 
priest, the superb mosaics and paintings, the blaze of 
man}* little candles before decorated shrines, the soft 
mellow twilight that pervades the interior, all combine 
to impress the beholder. Added to this, I was fortu- 
nate enough to arrive while service was going on, and 
heard some of that superb intoning, that marvellous 
bass singing, to be heard only in Russia. The priest 
who stood before the altar-screen had a wonderful 
voice ; it was like that of a full-toned organ-pipe, and 
rang clear and musical, filling the building with its 
melody. 



RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 107 

St. Isaac's was forty years in process of building, 
being completed in 1858, and its name is derived from 
a saint in the Greek liturgy, St. Isaac the Dalmatian, 
not the patriarch we read of in the Bible. The bell 
of this cathedral weighs fifty-three thousand pounds. 

Dressed in a long black robe, with a sort of brimless, 
bell-crowned hat upon his head, the priest chanted, in 
deep, sonorous tones, a sort of service, which was taken 
up and repeated in a different key by eight or ten 
others, whose voices were in perfect unison, and 
sounded like an organ performance, as the notes re- 
sounded through the vast edifice ; there was no musi- 
cal accompaniment whatever. 

There are no seats in Russian churches ; the worship- 
pers all stand when not kneeling. The poor people 
come in, and near the entrance purchase for a small 
fee one or two candles, about the size of a lead-pencil, 
of a priest who has them for sale. After lighting one, 
each goes to one of the shrines, that of his patron 
saint, — every Russian has one, — and, after bowing 
before it, lights his candle at the holy lamp, and sticks 
it in a large gilt or silvered frame placed there for 
that purpose. He then kneels or prostrates himself 
till his head touches the pavement, and there remains 
a short time, repeating his prayers, or rises to his 
knees and reverently crosses himself. The sale of wax 
candles seems to be quite a productive traffic for the 
church. 

In departing from the churches, you find on each 
side of the porch, just outside, a line of begging nuns 
and monks, from four to twelve in number. These 
are authorized beggars, from different monasteries and 
nunneries. They stand with a prayer-book — open at 
a certain text, I suppose — or with a plate, in which 



108 BEGGING MONKS AND NUNS. 

is a bit of cloth, on which is embroidered a cross, and, 
as you pass by, smilingly solicit alms for their institu- 
tions. I was told that the begging nuns, after having 
obtained a certain sum, were comfortably supported 
during the remainder of their lives. 

There are said to be about eight hundred convents in 
Russia. Abbots of some of the larger monasteries get 
an income, in some cases, of ten thousand pounds a 
year, and abbesses nearly as much. A large income is 
derived from the sale of holy relics, images, charms 
against sickness, holy tapers, and wedding rings. Rus- 
sians of wealth, also, pay large sums for sepulture with- 
in monasteries, and most families of rank are buried 
within monasteries or churches. 

The churches seem at all times to have a throng of 
worshippers, and each shrine, image, and chapel a 
group crossing themselves before it. The poorer 
people are very devout and very superstitious, and pay 
far more attention to their devotions and demonstra- 
tions of reverence than I have ever seen in Latin 
countries. 



CHAPTER X. 

The poor, wretched, sheepskin-clad peasant that is 
spoken of by travellers one seldom sees in St. Peters- 
burg, for that is the Paris of Russia ; indeed, the 
accommodations at our hotel, and the general appear- 
ance of the interior of the large stores, reminded 
me of those in New York. Then, the broad and 
beautiful avenues, — there seemed to be no alleys or 
narrow streets, — the grand squares and magnificent 
piles of buildings ranging block after block in long 
lines on the Nevski Prospect and other great streets, 
and the grand public buildings astonished us, for so 
little has been written and said of them that it was a 
new revelation instead of the actual realization of 
others' descriptions. 

The grand and splendidly built bridges over the 
river excited our admiration, and broad, well built 
quays with the lofty stone palaces and residences ; 
but these, as well as the quays themselves, we were 
told, were not what they seemed, of solid stone, but 
imitations in stucco and plaster. 

Of the interior of these imposing structures we had 
little opportunity of judging during our brief sojourn, 
but if they were on the scale as regards apartments that 
their exteriors indicated they must have been vast and 
magnificent. I was told that many of the Russian 
noblemen and men of wealth had banquet-halls, 
conservatories, and elegant winter gardens enclosed in 
their residences. 

109 



110 OUK LADY OF KAZAN. 

We started out behind our waiting steeds early one 
Sunday morning to see the "Cathedral of our Lady of 
Kazan," as it is called, going there first in preference 
to another church at which it was rumored the 
emperor would visit for his devotion, and on account 
of which the public would not be admitted until after 
twelve o'clock, noon. It is rarely that tourists, unless 
remaining at Petersburg for several days, get a good 
sight of the emperor ; like all royal personages, his 
carriage is driven very rapidly through the streets, and 
his intended movements under the present state of 
affairs are not publicly known. 

On our route we passed one of the entrances of the 
royal palace, about the door of which were lounging and 
waiting about twenty Cossacks of the royal guard, and 
upon the other side of the street a crowd awaiting the 
emperor, who was expected to come out at that portal — 
very likely to wait in vain, as our guide informed us 
many English and American tourists had done, this 
assemblage of guards being often a ruse designed to 
deceive as to the point at which he was likely to 
emerge. The string of guards, police and extraor- 
dinary precautions to guard the czar that we read of 
in the newspapers, we saw nothing of. 

The Kazan Cathedral is on the Nevski Prospect, 
and any one who has seen St. Peter's at Rome at once 
recognizes the imitation of its colonnade of pillars. 
This church is built in the' shape of a cross. It is 238 
feet long from end to end of each bar of the cross, and 
182 feet wide. 

The interior is imposing and magnificent. As we 
drove up to one of the three grand entrances, our 
driver halted discreetly about a score of paces away 
from another carriage — like our own, except that a 



LOST IN IMMENSITY. 



Ill 



uniformed officer sat on the box, beside the driver, and 
a couple of mounted guards were near it. At first we 
thought the czar was to be the occupant, as we saw a 
tall uniformed figure emerge from the cathedral, but it 
proved to be the Grand Duke Michael, his uncle, who 
.seated himself in the vehicle, drove directly past and 
within three or four yards of our carriage, courteously 
and smilingly returning our salute as he passed. 

Upon entering the cathedral, we found but very few 
persons within, certainly not over twenty or thirty, 
who were lost in its immensity, and we considered our- 
selves fortunate, as there would be no service for two 
hours, in having abundance of time to inspect the 
interior. The view upwards into the great cupola, that 
rises 220 feet above the floor, is very fine ; the cupola 
is supported by four huge pillars of Finland granite, 
and from each of these four pillars extends a row to 
the screen between nave and altar, and the three 
grand entrances of the church. 

These pillars are monoliths, 56 in number and 35 
feet in height. Like those of St. Isaac's, they rest on 
bases of solid bronze, and have Corinthian capitals of 
the same material. This church is named for Our 
Lady of Kazan, on account of a legend, that an image 
of the Virgin which it possesses was miraculously 
preserved amid the ashes of a conflagration of the old 
Tartar city of Kazan, about 1570, and brought to 
St. Petersburg about 1820. 

We viewed the beautiful perspective views of the 
church at different points, and the groups of captured 
flags taken from Turkey, Persia, and France by the 
Russians, those of the latter being the historic French 
eagles captured from Napoleon during his memorable 
Russian campaign. There were also the huge keys of 



112 AN" IKOXASTOS. 

captured fortresses, suspended from the church pillars — 
among them those of Hamburg, Dresden, and Utrecht, 
also the captured baton of Davoust, one of Napoleon's 
marshals, who earned his title of Prince, at the battle 
of Eckmiihl, in one of the fiercest cavalry fights on 
record. 

But the most wonderful thing here is the screen, — or 
ikonastos, as they call it, — a partition in Russian 
churches between the nave and the altar. This screen 
is made of solid silver, which was originally plundered 
from different Russian churches by the French, but 
was recaptured from them by the Cossacks, during the 
disastrous retreat from Moscow. Not only is the 
screen of silver, but so also is a balustrade in front of 
it. In the centre of the screen, the name of God is 
wrought in precious stones, and before it stand four 
huge solid silver candelabra. 

By virtue of the persuasive powers of our guide, we 
enjoyed the largest liberty, and were permitted close 
examination of the wonderful portrait of the Virgin 
which is hung upon the screen. This picture, which 
is the usual portrait size, is entirely covered, with the 
exception of the face, with gold and precious stones of 
rare value,- diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, 
one huge one of the latter description being that pre- 
sented by a grand-duchess. This altar-screen and its 
surroundings were one blaze of gold, silver, and gems, 
and in such abundance as to cause them to appear as if 
but of comparatively small value, for it seemed almost 
incredible that real stones should be distributed so 
plentifully and lavishly as they were here. But they 
were real, nevertheless. 

As we were standing near to and closely inspecting 
this jewelled wonder, a bell rang violently behind the 



A VIEW OF THE CZAK. 113 

screen. Pille} r , our guide, rushed to us, and, in startled 
tones, said : — 

" Come away quickly as you can ! Here comes the 
emperor ! " 

We stood not upon the order of our going, and had 
scarcely got outside the rail ere the tall figure of the 
emperor, followed by the empress, passed in and on to 
a position in front of the jewelled picture, where they 
knelt for perhaps five minutes, and, let us suppose, 
said a prayer or two. 

Standing some thirty paces away, where our guide 
had pulled us, and not having the " dread and fear of 
kings," I determined upon having a nearer view of His 
Majesty, and therefore approached to within ten paces 
of the silver rail, opposite the point of exit. Rising 
from his knees, the emperor advanced with a rapid 
step, and, catching sight of us, recognized our saluta- 
tion by a courteous bow, a pleasant smile, and a raising 
of his hand to his helmet cap. He wore a gray mili- 
tary overcoat, cavalry sabre, riding-boots with spurs, 
and a military helmet cap, like the Russian helmet 
except that it lacked the projecting spike on the 
crown. His form was broad, heavy, and stalwart, and 
he had the air of a coarse, overfed man, stout but not 
fat with good living. He walked at an ordinary gait, 
bowing now and then in response to the salutes of the 
few persons in the church, and, as he passed out, we 
heard the shouts of the people, as his carriage drove 
away. 

The empress was habited in a close-fitting dress of 
dark green cloth, a dark bonnet and lace mask veil, 
and, from the hasty glimpse we caught of her, seemed 
quite a pretty woman. Not a single guard or attendant 
came in with the royal pair or escorted them out: 



114 THE WINTER PALACE. 

from the door to the altar-screen they were utterly 
without attendants, and we might easily in a dozen 
paces have crossed their path or intercepted them, for 
there certainly appeared to be no one to have pre- 
vented our so doing. 

Our guide congratulated us upon our rare good-for- 
tune in obtaining this near view of His Majesty with 
so little' trouble ; it was, he declared, an unusual 
occurrence, and tourists generally counted themselves 
fortunate who saw him at a distance, as he rapidly 
drove through the streets of the city. It certainly 
upset all my preconceived ideas of caution on the part 
of the czar, who, I supposed, would have been guarded 
by a double line of soldiers, and every one excluded 
from the church in which he made his devotions. 

There is so much to claim the attention of the sight- 
seer and tourist in St. Petersburg that an attempt to 
see all thoroughly would occupy many months' time, 
and a description thereof occupy many hundreds of 
pages. This, I presume, accounts for what appear to 
be the very meagre descriptions that we find have been 
thus far given of the wonders of the Russian capital. 

I can give but passing mention of the magnificent 
Winter Palace, which is the residence of the emperor 
and court during the winter season. This building is 
450 feet in length by 850 in width, and during the 
court season is occupied by six thousand persons. The 
palace contains superb galleries of paintings, chiefly 
representations of Russian victories and portraits of 
celebrated Russian generals. Its great audience-cham- 
ber is an apartment 140 feet long and 60 feet wide. 
Other notable rooms are Peter the Great's throne-room 
and the beautiful White Saloon, so called from its dec- 
orations of pure white and gold. The grand staircase 



THE HERMITAGE. 115 

is another feature, and among the wonders that the 
tourist must not miss are the Russian crown-jewels, in- 
cluding the Orloff diamond, which weighs 194J carats 
and is said to be the largest in the world. 

The vast national museum, known as the Hermitage, 
like the British Museum or the Vatican, is of such 
extent that the tourist wonders if he can carry away 
a correct impression of any portion of it, in the all too 
brief period which his sojourn, be it even one of weeks, 
allows him. 

The Hermitage was founded by that remarkable 
woman, Catherine the Great, and was designed by her 
as a place of retirement from the cares of state, and 
where she might receive men of letters, great artists, 
sculptors, and philosophers. Here she proposed to 
gather together specimens of the works of great 
artists, and to rival the collections in the great Euro- 
pean capitals and in the art galleries. The work 
which she began has been faithfully carried out, as 
the traveller who visits them will see for himself 
that the collections of Rome, Florence, and Paris are 
dwarfed by it. 

Here is a collection of magnificent pictures, one of 
the finest in Northern Europe ; for here may be seen 
fine examples of Teniers, Rubens, Guido, Rembrandt, 
Velasquez, Carlo Dolci, Van Dyck, Snyders, Correggio, 
and many other celebrated masters. The building is a 
great parallelogram, 515 by 375 feet, with a magnificent 
entrance. A vestibule upheld by ten caryatides, twelve 
or fifteen feet high, cut from granite, with statues of 
sculptors : artists and painters are placed in niches, and 
you enter a great hall supported by the usual beautiful 
colonnade of pillars, cut from Finland granite. 

The picture galleries are arranged for different 



116 ART GALLERIES. 

schools of art. For instance, one is devoted to the 
Italian school, in which the superb picture of the "Dis- 
pute of the Doctors," by Guido Reni, and his " David 
with the Head of Goliath," figure, the " Feast of Cleo- 
patra," by Tiepolo, " St. Cecilia," by Carlo Dolci, and 
scores of others, each one of which is a feast to the 
art-lover. In this hall were four large candelabra, of 
beautiful violet jasper. Russia seems to be the home 
of elegant and precious stones, and of workmen who 
rival the old sculptors in their skill of carving them. 
Another large hall is filled with works of Flemish 
artists, a third with those of the Spanish school, 
another with works of French artists, and another 
contains an English collection. 

The numerous examples of the works of great 
artists strike the inexperienced traveller, visiting 
Russia for the first time, and who has a vague idea 
that he has left artistic collections behind him on 
crossing the frontier, with astonishment. For instance, 
here is one room full of beautiful specimens from 
Raphael's pencil, sixty in number, and another con- 
taining his frescos, another with several fine Titians, 
another full of Potter, Teniers, and Wouvermans, some 
of the best of the last-named artist's I ever saw, and 
one, as our guide-book truly informed us, without the 
usual white horse. Then, besides these are beautiful 
Rembrandts, Rubenses, Gerard Dows, Correggios, great 
pictures of fruit and game by Snyders, twenty fine 
Murillos, over thirty Van Dycks, and many others I 
cannot recall, to say nothing of the beautiful collection 
of the works of artists of more modern date, of the 
German, French, and Russian schools. Nowhere ex- 
cept in Spain is there such a fine exposition of Spanish 
art as is exhibited in these galleries. 



THE GALLITZIN GALLERY. 117 

Two of Canova's mdst famous statues — the "Danc- 
ing Girl " and " Hebe " — stand at the head of a marble 
staircase in the Hermitage. 

The Emperor of Russia had, at the time of the 
.author's visit, just purchased the famous Gallitzin 
collection of pictures, for the Hermitage Gallery, the 
price being one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. 
The Gallitzin collection, which is one of the finest 
in Russia, was principally purchased in Germany and 
Italy, during the early part of the present century. 
The gem of the gallery is one of the two Crucifixions 
painted by Raphael in his early days, which was long 
attributed to Perugino. The other Crucifixion by 
Raphael, belonging to the same period, is at Dudley 
House, having been bought in Italy by the late Lord 
Dudley. 

But, besides the wealth of pictorial art, there is much 
else in the Hermitage to claim the attention, and it is a 
pity that no popular exposition in the English lan- 
guage of the contents of this wonderful museum has 
yet been published. Its archaeological collection ap- 
pears to be one of great value and interest : the results 
of the excavations at Kertch ; the collection of Greek 
vases is a superb one ; the numismatic collection is 
quite large, including a splendid series of the coinage 
of Russia. 

Archaeologists find the collection from the excavations 
of Kertch to be the most unique and extraordinary 
in existence. Kertch was the ancient Panticapaeum, 
one of the chief Greek colonies of the Euxine, and the 
excavations and discoveries made by the explorers of 
the Russian government have brought forth a collec- 
tion of beautiful goldsmithery and antique vases that 
exceeds in extent that of any museum in Europe. 



118 PRICELESS ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURES. 

The gold-work is of various races and ages. The 
earliest Greek examples date from about the fifth 
century B. C. ; and there is a quantity of curious 
Scythian work, that defies exact chronology. 

The splendor and delicacy of some of the gold work 
is wonderful, when we consider the age in which it 
was produced, and the visitor finds not a meagre or 
even moderate collection to study, but is fairly bewil- 
dered among the numerous cases of gold bracelets 
and necklaces, ear-rings, finger-rings, buckles, figures 
of animals, crowns of gold-leaf, silver vases, chains, 
charms, and ornaments of all kinds. There was a 
splendid pair of gold ear-rings, bearing the head of a 
goddess, beautifully executed, the head, hair, face, and 
ornaments of the head all superbly wrought, and in a 
manner that a workman of to-day might feel proud of, 
and yet it was made in the fifth century B. C. 

Then, there were beautifully wrought necklaces, one 
ornamented with figures of beasts, and another with 
a delicately interlaced pattern covered with gold-dust, 
the style of which modern jewellers have striven in 
vain to imitate. Curious ancient silver-work, includ- 
ing beautifully ornamented vases, are placed here, and 
belong, I am told, to the Sassanian period, and furnish 
partial explanation of the origin of Arab and Mesopo- 
tamian metal work. 

Among the Grecian antiquities was a helmet, exactly 
such a one as we see in the illustrated books of the sto- 
ries of the old Greek heroes, and the curious thing re- 
specting this helmet is that the head of the owner is still 
with it, and was found in it. The copper head-piece 
was not proof, however, against the tremendous force 
with which it was hit, evidently by a stone from a sling, 
judging from the smashed-in fracture, which bent the 



GRECIAN ANTIQUITIES. HO 

metal like paper, and cracked the skull of the wearer 
likewise, as that remnant of mortality shows to-day. 
Another interesting object is the sarcophagus of a 
young man ; upon the sides of this is beautifully sculp- 
tured the story of his life as a student and young- 
man, showing his resistance of temptation, and his 
advancement in wisdom and scholarship. As one 
looks upon the artistic beauty of such work, even 
after time had wrought its work of so many years 
upon it, he cannot help imagining what a city of artis- 
tic splendor the ancient Grecian capital must have 
been in its time, and doubting if much advancement in 
artistic skill lias been made since. 

The Russian government is prosecuting discoveries 
far north of the Ural Mountains, and near Samarcand, 
and has an unparalleled collection of other antiquities 
displayed here, such as rude Tartar silver-work, early 
Russian cloisonne enamels, gold bracelets with Arabic 
inscriptions, and curious Gneco-Scythic terra-cotta 
ware dug up at Samarcand. There is also a collec- 
tion of three thousand Greek vases, many bearing 
beautiful designs, such as ships, animals, and chariots ; 
some of the finest of these are of the seventh century 
B. C. The numismatic collection is very large, and 
must be of immense value ; the Russian and oriental 
sections are the most remarkable ; the oriental, I was 
told, numbers over eight thousand pieces, among which 
is the splendid gold indemnity that was paid by the 
Shah of Persia after the war of 1828 ; it also includes 
some curious pieces of great weight. 

There are over two hundred thousand specimens in 
the entire collection, and one of the most interesting 
portions of it is the section devoted to the coins of 
ancient Greece and Rome, with which are displayed 



120 NUMISMATIC CURIOS. 

several hundred curious Athenian coins. Among the 
curiosities of this collection are some rough junks of 
silver, a quarter of a pound each, the " roubles " of the 
fifteenth century, and the square copeck and half-copeck 
of iron. 

A most interesting collection is one contained in 
three cases of ancient English coins. Only think of 
rinding in a Russian museum a collection of coins of 
the reigns of the English kings Ethelred II., Canute, 
and Hardicanute ! Certainly this collection is most 
remarkable, and one that, I should judge, numismatists 
would find to contain many rare and even unique 
specimens. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Peter the Great is canonized as a saint. He seems 
to be considered almost a god by the lower order of 
Russians ; the peasants rub their foreheads in the dirt 
before the house he lived in, and bow and cross them- 
selves before his pictures with the same reverence they 
bestow upon saints of the church. Peter was one of 
the heroes of our school-boy days; one of the principal 
figures in our story-books, and the prominent one in 
the meagre sketch of Russia given in school histories, 
his cruelty and tyranny being carefully kept out of sight. 
So we were curious to see, and glad to have opportu- 
nity of inspecting closely, the relics of this remarkable 
man, preserved in one of the rooms of the Hermitage. 
We grasped in our hands the iron rod he was said to 
have used as a walking-stick, saw the wax cast taken 
from his face while living, took in hand the mathemat- 
ical instruments that he used, saw the clothes that he 
wore, the turning-lathe and carving-tools, and speci- 
mens of engraving on copper executed by him, a 
notched stick, showing Peter's height to be six feet 
eight inches, that of his valet seven feet, and many 
other interesting relics. 

Peter unquestionably did more than any other 
monarch to advance Russia in civilization. Possess- 
ing enormous power of endurance, perseverance, and 
great versatility, he appears to have acted under the 
impression that, under his direction and force of will, 
Russia could gain or advance in his reign to the point 

121 



122 ELEGANT AND FANCIFUL TRIFLES. 

that it had taken other nations hundreds of years to 
attain. 

It is a wonder to see what mechanical work this 
monarch made himself master of, and what he accom- 
plished was so very far in advance of his time in his 
own country that we cannot cease to wonder at it. 
He built and navigated his own boat, translated works 
into Russian, learned the carpenter's trade, how to 
engrave on copper, built navies, and erected the first 
schools in Russia to teach arithmetic. 

After passing Peter the Great's room, we came to 
another, in which was a wonderful collection of snuff- 
boxes, such as would have made the eyes of a virtuoso 
or collector sparkle with delight. They were chiefly 
the gifts of sovereigns, and were resplendent with 
jewels, or adorned with beautifully painted miniatures 
of their donors, or monograms and ciphers in pre- 
cious stones. Following still further this wonderful 
museum, the visitor finds case after case of the most 
elegant and costly bric-a-brac and jewelry, till the 
brain is weary, and the limbs fatigued, in endeavor- 
ing to give even a cursory glance at them. 

For instance, there is a whole case of curious 
watches, Nuremberg eggs, watches shaped like ducks, 
and other quaint conceits ; a case of carved ivory 
work; the silver and gold to}^s of Catherine II.; 
caskets covered with great pearls and precious stones ; 
plumes made of diamonds and other gems; crystal 
cups covered with diamonds; huge silver goblets, 
elaborately engraved ; bouquets of flowers, formed 
entirely of emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and other 
precious stones ; Dresden china ornamented with 
diamonds: cups of rock-crystal: superb ivory carved 
work; Chinese jade work; gold and silver filigree 



A CHAOS OF IMPRESSIONS. 123 

work, a large and curious collection; then a case hold- 
ing a collection of curious and historic finger-rings. 

I am giving but the briefest glance at this wonderful 
array of curios, before which the celebrated Green Vaults 
of Dresden, wonderful as they are, are fairly dwarfed. 

Among the droll but at the same time interesting 
collections was a great case full of curious and historic 
pocket-books ! Here was one ornamented with 
diamonds and rubies, that belonged to the wife of 
Frederick William the Great ; another of King 
Augustus of Poland ; another that was given to the 
first queen of Prussia, by Peter the Great. Verily, if 
any artful dodger could have stolen one of these 
pocket-books, it would have been a rich haul, even 
though not "lined," as Fagin expressed it. 

After all this lavish display of fanciful work, the 
collection of gems, although one of the largest in 
existence, seems tame till one begins to examine the 
beautiful designs and the antique and wonderful 
cutting displayed. 

This collection is one of the largest in existence. 
Among them I remember a superb ruby, four inches 
long, cut into a bust of Peter the Great. 

Library and sculpture gallery are included within 
this great museum, which might occupy weeks of one's 
lime, had he it to spare, but from which I emerged 
with a handful of guide-books, and a chaotic impres- 
sion of pictures, diamonds, emeralds, snuff-boxes, coins, 
rich antiques, rare vases, curious relics, wonderful 
antiquities, and rich rarities, such as it is seldom the 
lot of man to look upon, and this, too, in what previous 
impressions had led me to believe was the least likely 
country in which to find them. And here let me say 
that, without such a guide as James Pilley, whom we 



124 AN INDEFATIGABLE CICERONE. 

took care to engage for our entire stay, I doubt 
whether we could have seen one-half that we saw, 
gained admission to half the places of interest that we 
did, or have comprehended what we did see so 
thoroughly as he made us through his skilful guidance. 

The man deserves mention as quite a remarkable 
personage in many respects, especially as compared 
with the various valets de places I have encountered 
and employed in various other countries. 

An Englishman, he has lived and been a guide 
thirty years in Russia, speaks the language fluently, 
and appears to be personally acquainted with every 
custodian in Petersburg, Moscow, and Nijni. He 
shakes hands with head-priests and nuns, is greeted 
by abbots and lady superiors, knows officers, police- 
men, janitors, and door-keepers, and, moreover, under- 
stands how to economize time and keep his party hard 
at work every moment. I think he rather enjoyed 
having two men that did not tire down with day after 
day of sight-seeing, — i. e., during the day, — but, after 
an all-day work of eight or ten hours or more, it did, 
after a while, seem rather a test of endurance for this 
indefatigable man to call, after he had allowed us an 
hour and a half for dinner, and say the carriage was 
"ready for the evening concert garden, gentlemen — 
carriage is engaged for all day, gentlemen, up to 
midnight." After one or two evening excursions, 
however, we gave our guide and driver the benefit of 
the time that was ours after 7 P. M., for the reason 
that rest was absolute^ necessary. 

Besides a good guide, assuming that you get a 
good one, who is reasonably honest, let the tourist not 
stint him, if any pinch comes, for a bribe or douceur 
where it will be of service. This, in Russia, procures 



RUSSIA — THE DREAM AND THE REALITY. 125 

much very desirable and prompt service, and also some 
quite important privileges, as I shall show further on. 

We found no difficulty on account of any stringent 
police regulations, which we had reason to expect from 
various published accounts of travellers who have got 
into difficulties. It may be because our guide 
thoroughly arranged matters for us, or because the 
much-talked-of espionage as regards foreigners, es- 
pecially Americans, does not now exist in the large 
Russian cities. Our guide laughed at some of the 
stories that we rehearsed to him, and, on inquiry as to 
any line of conduct, remarked that one had only to 
behave like a gentleman, as he would in any other 
large city, and not deliberately break the laws of the 
land, and no difficulties would be experienced. 

It might be as well not to be too outspoken on politi- 
cal matters, and especially in condemning the govern- 
ment and advocating revolutionary measures, in mixed 
company or public places. A curious case was related 
to me of an adventure which occurred a few years ago 
here to an American traveller, who, with that freedom 
of speech which characterizes, some of our countrymen 
in foreign countries, was especially bitter in his con- 
demnation of the policy of the Russian government. 
Not only this, but, in the matter of regulations at 
places of interest which he visited, he did not hesitate 
to find fault without scruple or reserve. 

Just after he had finished dinner one day, the land- 
lord of the hotel, pale and trembling, came to him 
with the intelligence that a messenger of the police 
desired to see him. On repairing to the next room, he 
was greeted in English, with but a slight accent, by a 
gentlemanly-appearing individual, who said: — 

" I have the honor to address Mr. Blank?" 



126 A BLUSTERER CONGED. 

" That is my name." 

" I have the honor to be the bearer of your passport, 
and also to state that the train leaves for the German 
frontier to-morrow morning, at half-past eight o'clock." 

" But I am not going by that train ! I intend visit- 
ing Moscow." 

" That will be impossible." 

"Impossible! Why?" 

"Because I have special orders to escort Monsieur 
to the frontier." 

" You have orders ! I want no escort. What if I 
refuse ? " 

"But you will not refuse, I am certain, when I 
inform you I act by the orders of the imperial po- 
lice ! " 

" The imperial police ! " 

" Certainly. The utmost courtesy will be shown 
Mr. Blank if he promptly complies and is ready with 
his baggage at eight o'clock to-morrow morning. If 
he refuses, why — (shrugging his shoulders) — but I 
know Mr. Blank will be too wise to refuse." 

And the officer bowed himself out, without a glance 
at the landlord, who stood in one corner, a mute wit- 
ness of the interview. 

After listening to that individual's explanations as 
to the probable cause of this expulsion, and the conse- 
quences of a refusal to obey the order of the police, the 
American concluded the better part of valor was dis- 
cretion, and was ready with his luggage at the time 
appointed, when his caller of the previous evening 
appeared promptly with a drosky, and both drove to 
the railroad station. 

Nor did they part here. A comfortable compart- 
ment on the train was placed at the American's dis- 



HOW HE CONSOLED HIMSELF. 127 

posal, while his companion took seat in an adjoining 
one, and lie soon found the Russian was one vested in 
authority, from the deference which was paid to him 
by railroad officials along the route. 

He was affable and polite, and conversed fluently, 
carefully avoiding any reference to politics. In reply 
to the query as to why he was escorting his charge, 
and how the latter had offended, he replied that it was 
only his duty to carry out the commands of his supe- 
rior officers, and he must beg to be excused explan- 
ations. 

The American was sensible enough to press the 
matter no further, and found his custodian quite an 
agreeable companion, and his cigars unexceptionable. 

Arrived at the frontier, on dismounting, the official 
politely remarked to his charge that at this point it 
would be necessary for him to purchase a ticket for 
the remainder of the journey, and that here also he 
had the honor to present hiy adieux, with best wishes 
for a safe journey to Berlin. He then handed the 
traveller his passport, which was endorsed with certain 
Russian characters, and, after the ticket was procured, 
bowed him into the train, courteously waving his 
white handkerchief to his late prisoner, as he sped 
away. 

The latter, in telling the story, is said to have re- 
marked, with true American satisfaction, that he "got 
a free pass to the frontier out of the Russian govern- 
ment, anyhow." 

One of the most remarkable exhibitions we visited 
in St. Petersburg was the Museum of Imperial Car- 
riages, a wonderful collection of rich and curious 
vehicles. Besides the carriages, the rooms contain a 
splendid collection of Gobelin tapestry, suspended 



128 MUSEUM OF IMPERIAL CARRIAGES. 

upon the walls, which alone is worth a visit. Here 
is one splendid but rather cumbersome vehicle, sent 
by Frederick the Great to the Empress Elizabeth, a 
magnificently decorated affair, rich in gilding and 
splendid upholstery, the arms of Russia on the panels 
in imitation and real precious stones, but not the most 
valuable, and surmounted with the imperial crown. 
Several elegant vehicles are more or less connected 
with the history of that luxurious Empress, Catherine 
II. One made in England for her lias the driver's 
box upheld by carved and gilded eagles, its panels 
beautifully painted with representations of allegorical 
subjects, exquisitely done, while on the outside and 
back are representations of Apollo and the Muses. 
Another is richly lined with lace, and the panels 
adorned by beautiful pictures by Gravelot — of Venus 
bathing, and other subjects ; another, on which gilding, 
velvet, and imitation precious stones seem to have 
been exhausted in decorating even to the steps, is also 
ornamented with paintings on its panels, any one of 
which would be a valuable addition to a picture gal- 
lery. These grand carriages are all brought out at 
each coronation at Moscow, when they are carefully 
put in order and restored for the occasion. 

But, amid all this collection of richly gilded vehicles, 
which suggests, to the average American, the " Golden 
Chariot" of the -circus, the object that attracts the 
most attention is the sledge built by Peter the Great, 
with his own hands — indeed, we begin to wonder if 
there was any species of industry this remarkable mon- 
arch did not turn his hands to. The vehicle alluded 
to is rather a clumsy affair, like a small hut, with 
mica windows, and has a box behind it for clothes 
and provisions. 



A TERRIBLE REMINDER. 129 

The carriage of Alexander II., with the back part 
all split and shivered by the Nihilist bomb from which 
he escaped only to be killed after descending therefrom 
is here, and a reminder and relic of that affair. Still a 
stronger reminder which we saw is the pavement 
spattered with his blood, and his sword and other 
articles bearing the same gory stains, that have been 
preserved, near the very spot where he fell, in a small 
temporary temple erected over them, and guarded by 
a priest, who receives offerings from the faithful, who 
stop there to pray, in aid of a church which is to be 
raised on the spot to his memory. 

Stepping into an adjoining apartment, we found it 
to be a harness and livery room, containing the richly 
mounted harnesses for all these equipages, and the 
liveries of nearly a thousand men. All the harness, 
wherever metal is used, is of silver. The reins are of 
silver thread and silk. A huge heap of old harness 
trimmings, a bushel or two of what I took to be plated 
metal, I was told was solid silver, and so I found it to 
be on examination, silver that had been taken from old 
harnesses to be refitted, the metal to go to the melting 
pot. These royal people seem to deal in gold and 
silver by the bushel, and diamonds by the quart. 

The imperial stables, near by, are a vast extent of 
buildings, accommodating nearly five hundred carriage 
and saddle horses. Murray says: "They will give an 
idea of the magnificence of the Russian court, as the 
sum expended in feeding the horses alone is about ten 
thousand pounds per annum." 

A most interesting place to visit is the Academy of 
Sciences, an institution founded in 1724, and which 
contains various collections of great interest and im- 
portance, and a library of nearly two hundred thousand 



130 INTERESTING ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 

volumes and MSS.; among the books are about four- 
teen hundred in the Chinese language, and nearly ten 
thousand in various dialects of the East. 

The zoological collection is perhaps the most inter- 
esting department to foreign visitors. It certainly was 
to me, for here I saw the unfossilized remains of the 
gigantic mastodon that I had read and wondered at as 
one of the wonders of modern times, as it certainly is, 
being one of the relics of that age of the world, far 
back in the antediluvian era, that the geologists tell of. 

The skeletons of the great rhinoceros and mastodon 
are wonderful remains, and more wonderful from the 
fact that when they were discovered, it will be recol- 
lected, they were encased in Siberian ice, where they 
had been preserved for countless ages, and so perfectly 
preserved that, when revealed by the breaking-away of 
the ice-cliff, when they were discovered, in 180(3, the 
bears and wolves came to feed on the flesh that had 
been preserved for centuries from decay. 

The skeleton of this mastodon, although over ten 
feet high and about fifteen in length, was that of a 
young beast, for the entire leg-bones of others that 
were afterwards found dwarf this, as it in turn does the 
skeleton of an elephant set up by its side for compari- 
son. The huge skull of another mammoth, one-third 
larger than the one on the entire skeleton, also shows 
that the latter is the remains of a youngster. Some 
of the mammoth tusks exhibited here are eight and 
one-half feet in length. A laro-e section of the skin 
taken from this mammoth is preserved, and still has 
the reddish-brown hair upon it that distinguished the 
animal in northern latitudes. 

A capital restoration of this enormous creature, with 
tusks, hide, hair, etc., all carefully reproduced complete, 



THE ETHNOGRAPHIC DEPARTxMENT. 131 

under the direction of skilled naturalists, was exhib- 
ited, in 1885, at the International Exposition at New 
Orleans. 

Scarcely of less interest were the remains of a 
huge species of extinct rhinoceros, upon the head of 
which still remain the skin and hair, which also still 
adhere to the feet. Science lias even been able, by 
analyzing the particles found in the cavities of the 
teeth of this huge beast, to determine that its food 
was the branches of young fir-trees. Other fragments 
of the great beasts of early periods will interest the 
scientific student. 

One curious feature of the collection was the Eth- 
nographic Department, which was an exposition of the 
dresses, arms, implements, etc., of the various races 
that are under the Russian government, an assortment 
of wonderful weapons, costumes, and household goods, 
that was a museum of itself. Bows and arrows, spears 
and battle-axes, primitive war-clubs, and the chain 
armor, and decorated Eastern helmets, figures clad in 
mere skins, and the gay costumes of Circassian sol- 
diers, head-dresses of peasants, and the bone ornaments 
of the savage were displayed, and formed a rare and 
interesting object-lesson respecting the extent and 
diversity of territory and people under the sway of 
the Russian sceptre. 

The collection of coins here shows the regular 
progress of coinage in Russia from the earliest period, 
when stamped leather passed current, down to the 
bright gold pieces of the present day. 

The mineralogical collection shows the wonderful 
mineral resources of the empire, and the anatomical 
cabinet contains many wonderful curiosities in medical 
science, of interest not only to the pathological stu- 



182 MONUMENT TO PETER THE GREAT. 

dent, but to the ordinary visitor who wishes to be 
astonished by the monstrosities and curiosities of 
humanity. 

The skeleton of Peter the Great's valet, who was 
seven feet in height, is preserved here, and the head 
of a favorite mistress of Peter is also shown, not a very 
attractive object now. One must, of course, not leave 
St. Petersburg without seeing all the relics of Peter 
the Great, and everything that specially relates to him. 
He will find them in every direction — in museum, 
church, palace, and monastery. In one of the great 
squares, known as Admiralty Square, stands his eques- 
trian statue, so well known from pictorial representa- 
tions. It is a spirited and beautiful production, and, 
like many other celebrated foreign works of art that I 
had read and heard of, fully came up to my ideal of 
the reality. 

The attitude is bold and spirited, but is one which is 
also used in other similar works, the equestrian statue 
of Jackson, for instance, at Washington, although the 
latter has nothing like the graceful pose, nor the figure 
the ease and majestic grace of that of the Russian 
group. 

The huge rock that forms the pedestal of this statue 
is in itself a wonder ; it is of granite, weighing fifteen 
hundred tons, and was brought from a point four or 
five miles distant from the cit}% by means of rollers 
and other contrivances, with an infinite deal of labor 
and expense. 

A story is told of a couple of American sailors who, 
while out on a frolic, invaded the sacred precincts of 
this statue, and the bolder of the two climbed, not 
only upon the pedestal, but upon the bronze horse, 
and seated himself behind the figure of the great czar, 



and was waving his hat in triumph when he was 
pounced upon and borne off by the police. Next clay 
before the magistrate, through his captain and the 
American consul's intervention, he was let off on con- 
dition that he paid a fine of three hundred roubles. 

It was remonstrated that the fine was a large one 
for so small an offence. " Quite the contrary," replied 
the magistrate; "lie who would ride with emperors 
must pay accordingly." 

Not far from here, on the other side of the cathedral, 
stands a most elaborate equestrian statue of the Em- 
peror Nicholas, he that was on the throne at the time 
of the Crimean War. In addition to the figure of the 
emperor are life-size figures, those of the empress and 
her three daughters, which are placed at each corner 
of the pedestal. In artistic finish and elaborate work 
this far excels the other, and is a superb and costly 
affair. But that of Peter, in its grand and spirited 
attitude and simplicity of surrounding, leaves a more 
lasting impression. 

The cathedral founded by Peter the Great, known 
as the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, is named 
after him and also the Emperor Paul, who is buried 
there ; it is within what is known as the fortification or 
fortress. Its spire is, as usual, surmounted by a cross, 
that glitters in the sunlight three hundred and seventy- 
one feet above the street — ten feet higher than St. 
Paul's of London. 

The dome also shines with gilding. All the sov- 
ereigns of Russia, with the exception of Peter II., are 
buried here, many of them noted for their barbarous 
cruelty — deeds that make one shudder to read of. 
Even Peter himself, with all his ability and his ad- 
vanced mind, that brought Russia so far from semi- 



134 "KUSSIAN " SAINTS." 

barbarism to a civilized nation, was guilty of crimes 
that were a disgrace to humanity. Within the very 
fortress in which this cathedral stands, he imprisoned 
his oldest son, put him to torture under examination 
for treason ; from the effect of this treatment he died 
soon after his father left him. 

The bodies of the royal rulers are deposited under 
the floor of the cathedral, and the spot of the inter- 
ment is marked by a stone sarcophagus above each. 
That of Peter the Great is opposite a statue of St. 
Peter, i. e., Peter the Great canonized, and an inscrip- 
tion states that he was "nineteen inches long and five 
inches and a quarter broad at the time of his birth." 
A similar image of the Emperor Paul (as St. Paul) 
opposite his tomb gives his length and breadth at 
birth, and a long row of other tombs of Pauls. Alexis', 
Nicholas', and Constantine's may be studied by those 
familiar with Russian histoiy. 

That which interested us most, next to Peter's, was 
the grave of that wonderful, ambitious, and sensual 
woman, Catherine IT., whose reign forms some of the 
most interesting pages of Russian history — a woman 
who, after living a life of unrestrained licentiousness, 
made her reign remarkable for the rapid increase of 
the extent and power of Russia, and the vigor and 
ability with which she carried on the government, and 
made her court noted by literati and philosophers of 
France, whom she invited there, many of whom did 
not hesitate to flatter and exalt her, notwithstanding 
her utter and open shamelessness in vice. 

There is a splendid monument to Catherine, which 
was erected as late as 1873, on the Nevski Prospect, in 
front of the Alexander Theatre. It is a figure of the 
empress, upon a great pedestal of red granite, sur- 



PETER THE GPwEAT's COTTAGE. 135 

rounded by statues of various distinguished Russians 
of her reign. The monument is eighty feet high, and 
cost half a million dollars. 

The interior of the Peter and Paul church is deco- 
rated with standards taken from the Turks, French, 
and Swedes, which are placed upon the walls, and the 
ponderous keys of various captured fortresses. 

From here we went to Peter the Great's cottage, 
which he lived in, on the banks of the Neva, while he 
was superintending the building of St. Petersburg. 
It is a little house about fifty feet by twenty, contain- 
ing three rooms, and is entirely covered by a casing, to 
protect it from decay and relic-hunters. Of course, 
the principal room has been fitted up as a chapel, with 
an image which Peter used to carry about on his mili- 
tary campaigns, before which is a cross and holy water, 
and the crowd of pious Russians was too great for us 
to gain admission there. But in another room we saw 
the bench and chair upon which he sat, a boat that he 
built and used for his excursions across the river, and 
other articles that belonged to him. 

Near here is an extensive parade-ground, or Champ 
de Mars, where troops, both foot and cavalry, are 
drilled and exercised. It is a vast square area, in 
which twenty thousand troops can be manoeuvred at 
once. 

We next visited his Summer Palace — in fact, his 
first state residence. A modest residence enough it 
seems now, about as large as a moderate country-house 
in America, its reception and ball-room being but little 
larger than great old-fashioned drawing-rooms, and his 
dining-room communicating directly with the rather 
small-looking kitchen by means of a slide in the wall. 
The cramped quarters and rude conveniences for cook- 



136 MONASTERY OF ALEXANDER NEVSKI. 

ing would hardly serve to stew and boil and roast for 
people of very moderate means of to-day. 

The monastery of St. Alexander Nevski, at one end 
of the Nevski Prospect, we were fortunate enough to 
visit during a singing or chanting service of the 
monks — a wonderful specimen of vocalization. The 
monks wear long beards, and their long, light hair 
is crimped. The beard and hair are said to be worn 
in imitation of those of our Saviour. This monastery 
is in large and beautiful enclosed grounds, with 
church, monastery, and other buildings, and where, 
as far as we could see, the occupants lived most com- 
fortably. The grounds are celebrated as being the 
battle-field where the Grand-Duke Alexander defeated 
the Swedes, in 1241. The church and monastery were 
not built, however, till five hundred years after. 

The church, which is one of the largest in St. Pe- 
tersburg, is finely decorated with marble fittings, gild- 
ing, and precious stones ; but the principal attraction 
is the tomb of Alexander, which stands in a side 
chapel, which is of solid silver to the amount of three 
thousand two hundred and fifty pounds of the precious 
metal. It is surmounted by a catafalque, with angels 
five or six feet in height, blowing their trumpets, while 
numerous bass-reliefs represent scenes in Alexander's 
life. The value of the silver alone as raw material in 
this monument is over one hundred thousand dollars. 
The church and convent were founded by Peter the 
Great. In the cloister, they show you the crown of 
St. Alexander and the bed on which Peter the Great 
died, besides a collection of pontifical robes, mitres, 
and staffs of unexampled richness. 

One peculiarity of the Russian churches, to which 
allusion has before been made, is the arrangement of 



PECULIARITIES OF RUSSIAN CHURCHES. 137 

the altar and screen, or iconastos, as it is called. There 
is a rail separating the steps leading to the altar ; at 
the top of these steps the officiating priest stands when 
performing a portion of the service. Behind him is 
the screen, always richly and superbly decorated with 
gold, silver, or precious stones. In this screen are 
three doors, the middle one being the Holy Door. 
After passing behind the screen, you find the Holy 
Table — really the altar, I suppose, as I saw no such 
altars as in Roman Catholic churches. Above this 
table are a canopy, upheld by four small pillars, and a 
dove, as the symbol of the Holy Ghost. Beyond and 
fronting this table is an elegant raised seat or throne, 
upon which no official below the rank of a bishop is 
allowed to sit. 

There are no seats in Russian churches. Everybody 
stands, except when kneeling at some particular part 
of the service, or when some are prostrating them- 
selves, as many, especially of the poorer class, do, 
before some saint's picture or shrine, or even in the 
midst of a crowded congregation, should the spirit 
move them, at any time, to do so. 

I have spoken of the begging nuns that stand just 
inside the doors of all the churches ; they are a curi- 
ously costumed set, with high pointed hoods and dif- 
ferent cuts of robes — according to the nunnery they 
represent, I suppose. Outside the porch, as in Roman 
Catholic countries, is the usual swarm of other beggars. 

The beautiful miniature palace, a short ride from 
St. Petersburg, known as "Mine Own," and owned, I 
think, by the empress, is in the middle of some charm- 
ingly laid-out grounds, and awaits the royal family 
whenever they should please to come to it ; but it had 
not been occupied by them for more than a year when 



138 

we visited it. Its rooms are all fitted with exquisite 
taste, and without that tawdry and lavish display of 
gilt and frescoing that distinguishes royal palaces. In- 
deed, this was like the residence of a gentleman of 
perfect taste and abundant means. 

An attempt to keep intelligible memoranda or to 
describe the endless display of riches and splendor 
in these Russian palaces and churches is futile, unless 
one should make a business of it, like cataloguing for 
an auction sale, and even then life would be too short 
fur the task. 

Those who visit Russia for the first time, with the 
somewhat popular idea that it is a sort of semi-barbaric 
country, and that most of the wealth and art of the 
world is held in other portions of Europe, are sim- 
ply astounded with the wonders and treasures of St. 
Petersburg and Moscow. It must be remembered, 
however, that Russia has had the treasures of the East 
for years to draw upon, to say nothing of her mines 
and quarries, which are unsurpassed in richness and 
extent. 

Not only is the tourist and pleasure-seeker who has 
visited London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome surprised at 
the novelties that he encounters, the wealth of art, 
and the wonderful beauty of churches and public 
buildings that he sees, but that more popular descrip- 
tions have not been given, and better guide-books 
written of the country and the people. 

Russian novelists just now, however, are the fashion 
in American literary circles, and information about 
this great nation and its people will on that account 
be more sought for and more generally disseminated 
than ever, before. There are only about six hundred 
periodicals of all kinds published in the Russian em- 



PETERHOF PALACE. 139 

pire, of which two hundred are in other languages than 
Russian. In other words, it takes one hundred and 
seventy-five thousand Russian subjects to support one 
periodical, while in the United States there is one peri- 
odical to every four thousand people. Of the four 
hundred Russian periodicals, fifty-five are daily, eighty- 
five weekly. Much of our information respecting Rus- 
sia has come through English sources, and has been 
tinctured by prejudice and marred by misrepresenta- 
tions, as the author found from personal experience in 
many respects. 

Besides this, many changes have been made for the 
better as regards the privileges of travellers, within a 
few years. The accounts of the perplexities of pass- 
ports, surveillance of police, and rigorous regulations 
respecting tourists must have been greatly modified, 
or are customs of the past, as we experienced very 
little inconvenience in that respect. 

The palace of Peterhof, is fairly crammed with 
room after room of rich articles of bric-a-brac, such as 
vases, silver statuettes, porcelain paintings of battles, 
carvings of ivory, and also, of course, including some 
carvings by Peter the Great, whose handiwork seems 
ubiquitous in and about Petersburg. One of the great 
rooms has over eight hundred portraits of females of 
different provinces of the Russian empire. These were 
painted by order of Catherine II., who commissioned 
an artist to travel over the empire, and obtain them 
from the best peasant models he could secure. 

The drives and grounds round and about Peterhof, 
as well as the immediate vicinity, are charming. In 
front of the palace, a fountain sends a jet of water, 
with a mighty rush, eighty feet into the air, and on 
either side are other fountains, throwing their jets in 



140 THE SUMMER PALACE. 

different directions. Down at the foot of the elevated 
ground upon which the palace stands are great basins 
and other fountains, the water of which flows away 
through an artificial channel, lined on each side with 
smaller fountains. The rides about the grounds, 
which are elegantly laid out, continually bring you in 
view of most charming effects of fountains, basins, 
trees, and landscape. 

But near a place called Marly is a magnificent foun- 
tain, in the shape of a Greek temple, in the middle of 
a lake, with streams of water spouting from various 
parts of it, flashing in the light in every direction. 
All around in the vicinity were lesser fountains, and 
artificially contrived Avater-works in such variety that 
I left the grounds of Peterhof and Marly with* a 
confused impression of great foaming waves dashing 
over marble steps before a grand palace, or jets and 
streams leaping high as the tree-tops in broad ave- 
nues, or spouting from the mouths of Tritons or dol- 
phins and splashing into marble basins in shady nooks, 
which met us at every fresh turn in these magnificent 
parks. 

The favorite royal residence of the Russian imperial 
famil} r is known as the Summer Palace, and is situated 
about fifteen miles from St. Petersburg by rail. After 
riding into the grounds, we passed by the front of this 
palace, seven hundred and eighty feet in length, pro- 
fusely ornamented with columns, vases, statues, and 
other ornaments. It was originally covered witli gild- 
ing, but is now white, except that portion towards the 
garden, which is painted a greenish hue. A detailed 
description of this ro} r al palace, somewhat celebrated for 
being a favorite abiding-place of Catherine II., would be 
but a repetition of that of other Russian royal palaces. 



THE WONDERFUL AMBER ROOM. 141 

The private chapel of the royal family which we 
visited in the palace is an elegant affair, richly dec- 
orated in blue and gold, the ceiling completely covered 
with gilding. The places for the royal family are in a 
sort of organ-loft or gallery, at one end of the chapel, 
opposite the screen (not even royalty can sit in 
church), where they can see all without being them- 
selves exposed to view, and direct communication is 
had from this gallery to apartments in the palace. 
Some of these rooms are so rich and wonderful in dec- 
oration that I cannot pass them without brief mention. 

The most wonderful is that known as the amber 
room, a large apartment, the walls, furniture, and dec- 
orations of which are entirely composed of amber. 
Dark yellow, delicate gold tint, and beautiful translu- 
cent straw color, of the rarest description, were be- 
stowed here with Russian prodigality. The walls were 
sheathed with it, chandeliers wrought from it, pict- 
ures framed in exquisite carved work of it ; tables ele- 
gantly inwrought and chairs curiously fashioned of 
it; statuettes carved from it, coats-of-arms inlaid in 
amber, elegant vases and artistic carvings and decora- 
tions all of the same material, — a most remarkable 
display. The amber was a present to Catherine, from 
Frederick the Great. 

Another elegant apartment, called the lapis-lazuli 
room, was inlaid with elegant specimens of that 
stone, and had a floor of ebony inlaid with flowers 
of mother-of-pearl, giving a gorgeous effect to the 
apartment. 

In other apartments the walls were completely 
sheathed in rich silks instead of paper hangings or 
wood-work. One bedroom had hangings of blue silk, 
another those of a delicate rose tint with furniture and 



142 PRODIGAL LUXURIANCE. 

upholstery of some pleasing contrast, producing an 
extremely beautiful and luxurious effect. 

Ingenuity seems to have been exhausted in prodigal 
expenditure to produce wonderful effects in these 
palaces ; another room, called the Chinese room, con- 
tained some of the richest and rarest specimens of 
Chinese work I ever looked upon — beautiful vases, 
silks, rich hangings, brilliant embroideries in silk, jade 
vases, ornaments, and everything beautifully disposed 
in ravishing profusion and excellent taste. The bed- 
room of the Empress Catherine II. was an apartment 
with porcelain-decorated walls and pillars of rich purple 
glass. 

Then there were the grand banqueting-rooms, which 
seemed to be almost sheathed in gold, the grand ball- 
rooms elegantly ornamented, and one large room fitted 
up as a gymnasium, with the usual apparatus, and in 
addition a toboggan-slide of broad, perfectly polished 
planks, the toboggan used being a small rug or carpet, 
and, we being the only visitors present, the slide was 
then and there satisfactorily tested. The guide who 
went about with our guide and ourselves was evidently 
a substitute for the regular officer, who probably 
thought that an expert like our well known guide only 
needed a man with him for form's sake, and so pocketed 
a douceur and deputed a fellow good-naturedly full of 
vodki to accompany us, who permitted us to do pretty 
much as we chose, even to handling the personal effects 
of Alexander I., that remain in his private apartments 
as he left them ; the tiying-on of the former emperor's 
hat and gloves by the author he considered to be more 
of a joke than an extraordinary liberty. 

The Alexander Palace, near at hand, is a tame affair 
after this one, and contained nothing that specially im- 



A FINE MILITARY COLLECTION. 143 

pressed itself upon my memory, except a series of small 
models, either of papier-mache or plaster, of each of the 
different cavalry regiments of the empire, beautifully 
done ; the uniforms and accoutrements all being correct 
reproductions of those in use in each of the different 
bodies of troops, forming a fine military collection. 
Each figure is about twenty inches in height, and they 
are kept in glass cases. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow occupies 
from fourteen to fifteen hours. We left at 8.30 p.m., 
and arrived at Moscow at a few minutes past 11 a.m. 
the next day — the distance between the two points 
being four hundred miles. The sleeping-cars were 
exceedingly comfortable, and similar to those between 
the frontier and St. Petersburg, and in no way inferior 
to the best in the United States. 

There is but little to interest one on the route, or 
that portion of it we saw during the few hours of day- 
light before arrival at Moscow, whose curious-looking 
spires and bell-shaped cupolas, as we approached it, 
gave the impression of a city of the East. 

Emerging from our comfortable railway carriage, we 
were soon mounted in a two-horse drosky and whirling 
away for our hotel. But not through such broad, ele- 
gant streets as in St. Petersburg, though the newer 
part of the city has some fine broad avenues. There 
was a more semi- Asiatic appearance to things here : 
curious and grotesque-looking spires ; peasants with 
matted hair and unkempt beards, and who were clad 
in sheepskins that looked as though they had been 
owned by several generations, were among the crowds 
in the street; the Greek-letter-lookinGf sisrns seemed 
more undecipherable, the droskies smaller and more 
dirty, and the vodki shops more frequent; Tartar 
laborers were more plentiful, and the Asiatic type of 
face was oftener met, and there seems to be a greater 

144 



MOSCOW AND ITS PEOPLE. 145 

quantity of poorly dressed people in the streets than 
in St. Petersburg. 

Moscow is a manufacturing city ; it contains nine hun- 
dred manufactories, of various kinds, including many 
for weaving silk, and employing about one hundred 
thousand persons. In the whole province of Moscow 
there are 2506 factories, employing nearly one hundred 
and ninety thousand work-people, nearly five times as 
many factories and operatives as are found in St. 
Petersburg and its environs. Moscow, in fact, is one of 
the great workshops of Russia. The principal portion 
of goods manufactured here, I was told, was exported 
to Central Asia, Asia Minor, and South-eastern Europe. 

The cotton industry in Russia has reached great pro- 
portions. There are now over one thousand mills and 
factories turning out cotton fabrics of different kinds, 
valued at one hundred and fifty million dollars per 
annum, and giving employment to over two hundred 
thousand hands. Cotton is raised in Turkestan, Cen- 
tral Asia, and the Caucasus, but, instead of being en- 
couraged and developed, this important industry is 
neglected. Russia pays annually for imported cotton 
(mostly from the United States) about seventy-five 
million roubles in gold, which surpasses three times 
the annual yield of gold in that country. The parties 
interested in the cotton industry suggest to the Rus- 
sian government that it should assist them in devel- 
oping the cotton plantations in the Merv oasis, the 
Caucasus, and Turkestan by advancing them sufficient 
funds. They say that on five hundred thousand acres 
of choice land they will raise all the cotton Russia 
will need for her mills. It is improbable, however, 
that the Russian government will venture in this new 
business, after so many signal failures. 



146 RUSSIAN FINANCE. 

Two great businesses of national importance, the 
building of railways and the redemption of land from 
the former serf-owners, says a recent writer, will par- 
ticularly drain the imperial treasury for many years. 
For the former item it has spent since 1848 the enor- 
mous sum of 1,440,000,000 roubles ($720,000,000). 
Finding that the official running of railways did not 
pay, the government has leased most of its railroads to 
private companies. Up to this date the government used 
to guarantee a certain dividend on railroad shares, thus- 
paying to the shareholders about ten million dollars- 
per annum. The railroad companies never pa}^ in full 
their annual debt to the government, their arrears usu- 
ally amounting to fifteen million dollars. Up to Feb- 
ruaiy 1, 1887, the government had spent for redemption 
of land for the former serfs $454,000,000, which sum 
cannot be returned to the treasury for many years to 
come. As the Russian government does not conduct 
its finances on business principles, its credit is very 
poor, be it peace or war. The imperial legal tender — 
the paper rouble — is now worth only a half of its face 
value in gold or silver. Though the government pays 
annually about eighteen million dollars on account of 
the decline of that paper rouble, yet it is very slow in 
redeeming it. 

The Russian minister of finance, in presenting the 
state budget for 1887, estimated a deficit of about 
fifty million dollars, and statistics show that the deficit 
for the last five years has ranged from twenty-five to 
fifty millions. 

Determined efforts are being made, however, to bet- 
ter the financial condition of affairs. In response to 
a petition of merchants and statesmen, the czar ap- 
pointed (1887) a new minister of finance, one Yshono- 



STREET SCENES IN MOSCOW. 147 

gradsy, who was formerly a professor of mechanics and 
a railroad-builder, and other changes were made, so that 
some new system of political economy may be put 
forward. 

The Great Bazaar at Moscow is an exposition of 
itself, in which each trade has a separate section : 
jewellers, holy relics and images, bright kerchiefs, 
fruits, tea-stores, cloth, clothing, boots, shoes, caps, 
everything in the retail line that one can desire. 

That some of the Asiatic customs were prevalent 
here was evident from the fact that in the Bazaar 
I noticed clerks in some of the shops figuring out 
their accounts by the aid of the little wire frame and 
balls that are in general use among Chinese accountants. 

The streets, with very few exceptions, are poorly 
paved, and you miss the long, stately rows of archi- 
tectural display that adorn certain quarters of St. 
Petersburg; for here in Moscow church, hut, and palace 
are often in close proximity — in fact, everything seems 
to be more thoroughly mixed in Moscow, and lacking 
much of the systematic order of the former city. 

Here also are the street shrines, little sort of relig- 
ious shops with the whole side towards the street open 
and an attendant begging priest or nun or two inside 
to receive offerings. These shrines are wonderfulty 
numerous, and all receive thorough attention, from the 
rich man who rolls by in his carriage to the filthiest 
sheepskin-clad beggar. Not only are the bowing and 
crossing done by those who pass, but at all hours of 
the day there are little crowds of men and women at 
these places bowing and crossing and saying a prayer 
or two or getting a sip of holy water. 

There are, beside the sheepskin-clad peasants that I 
referred to that one meets, others in the rough blouse 



148 PRIMITIVE VEHICLES. 

that covers a red shirt worn outside the trousers and 
confined at the waist by a leathern belt, their coarse 
trousers thrust into a mass of strappings or bandages 
of bark which serve as boots or shoes. They come 
into town with loads of wood or other stuff from the 
country, drawn in carts fashioned in the roughest 
manner from bent poles and old fragments of wood in 
the rough, built round four wheels. The wagons used 
for all purposes that we saw were of a very rude char- 
acter. Any vehicles corresponding to an American 
truck, dray, or common express-cart seemed entirely 
unknown. An American farm-wagon or tip-cart was 
a far more civilized machine of its kind than any we 
saw in the streets of Moscow or Petersburg. 

We observed that the Russian draught-horses had 
no traces, but the shafts of the vehicle were attached 
to their collars. This explains the Use of the pictu- 
resque, but heavy, high wooden yoke which is worn by 
these horses in Russia ; it holds the shafts a few inches 
away from the animal, so that he is not shaken by 
every jolt of the vehicle. 

The troika or Russian travelling-carriage drawn by 
three horses abreast was familiar to us in school days 
from the woodcut in our school geographies of one 
containing two fur-clad individuals with a driver in 
front of them urging his horses to full speed, and under 
which appeared the word " Russia." It also appears 
in some of Schreyer's snow-storm pictures and in the 
paintings of other artists, so that we imagined the 
troika to be a carriage quite in common use. As far 
as the cities of Petersburg and Moscow are concerned, 
however, this is not the case, for we saw none in Mos- 
cow and but two in St. Petersburg, and those were the 
private turnouts of wealthy men. 



MONKS AND NUNS. 149 

The shock heads of matted hair and full, unkempt 
beards (growing up to the very eyes) of the peasants, 
combined with their low foreheads and often brutish 
countenances, gave some of them the appearance of 
huge Skye terriers rather than human beings. In cheap 
bazaars and at crowded church services the sheepskin- 
clad individuals should be given a wide berth by the 
tourist, as close contact is by no means pleasant. 

The monks here, as in Petersburg, wear long, black 
robes and tall, cylinder-shaped, black, rimless hats, and 
from the front of some of the hats fell a veil, partly 
covering the face. There are two hundred convents and 
48-1 monasteries in Russia, and recent statistics set the 
number of monks at nearly six thousand and the nuns 
seven thousand. Until a monk is thirty years of age he 
is considered a novice, and no woman can become bound 
to monastic life till she is fifty ; at any time before reach- 
ing that age she is at liberty to leave the nunnery and 
marry. There are now attached to the monasteries 
4133 lay brethren or novices, and to the convents 
14,200 lay sisters. 

The singing at the great monastic churches, as I 
have before remarked, is magnificent, and entirely with- 
out musical accompaniment. One of the most remark- 
able hymns, I was informed, was called the " Thrice 
Holy," on account of the word "holy" being thrice 
repeated in its performance. 

This and other portions of the service are not in the 
Russian tongue, but in old Slavonic, as unintelligible 
to most of the worshippers as the Latin chants and ser- 
vice in the Roman Catholic Church. 

It never happened to be my fortune to hear a sermon 
preached in a Russian church ; but an English writer 
speaks of them as being peculiarly adapted to the Rus- 



150 A MIMIC CONFLAGRATION RECALLED. 

sian mind, because they appeal to the feelings rather 
than the intellect. 

The peculiar bulb-shaped domes of the churches con- 
tinually suggested to me the mosques of an Eastern 
city, heightened as they were in barbaric appearance by 
being painted green, or glittering with copper or gilding. 

The story of Bonaparte's invasion of Russia, the 
conflagration of Moscow, his disastrous retreat there- 
from, and the annihilation of his spendid army has 
done more to excite a desire to see that city, among 
English-speaking people, than anything else in its his- 
tory. I remember, years ago, an exhibition that was 
thought to be quite a wonderful affair, called " The 
Conflagration of Moscow," which was exhibited in all 
the principal cities of America, in conjunction with 
that wonderful piece o£r deception known as Maelzel's 
Automaton Chess-Player. This panoramic exhibition 
was a most effective affair in its way ; on the curtain 
rising, the city by moonlight was revealed, with its 
bulb-like towers and domes glittering in the moon's 
rays. The Kremlin occupied the foreground, and tur- 
rets, spires, and bridges were seen in the distance. 
Soon, afar off, were heard the drums of the approaching 
French troops, and at the same time a distant flame 
lighted up a small space of sky with its rays, and the 
great bells began to boom the alarm. 

The Are spread and clouds of smoke rolled upwards ; 
meantime, the people could be seen flying with their 
household goods ; the glare of the increasing conflagra- 
tion now lighted up the whole scene. The city, with its 
spires, pinnacles, bridges, walls, and the Kremlin were 
now visible ; so were little figures of incendiaries, with 
torches busy with the work of destruction. The peal 
of the fire-bells was incessant, the great clouds of 



"HOLY MOSCOW," A CITY OF CHURCHES. 151 

smoke rolled skyward, and walls of houses and steeples 
crashed down amid myriads of sparks. Now the drum 
of the troops and the military bands were heard dis- 
tinctly, and we saw them in the panoramic representa- 
tion, crossing the bridges and entering the city ; the 
brass cannon glittered in the fire-light, and the shining 
bayonets of the foot-soldiers were seen as they marched 
in solid columns. 

At the very height of the conflagration, according to 
the printed programme, " the Kremlin is blown up, 
with a terrific explosion, by the mines of gunpowder 
placed beneath it by the Russians." And so concluded 
a very effective panoramic exhibition, which, together 
with the story of Napoleon's campaign, always made 
me long to see Russia's ancient capital, whose inhabi- 
tants sacrificed it rather than yield to the invader. I 
found it well worth the brief visit made it, and in 
many respects a more thoroughly Russian city than 
St. Petersburg. It is, as is well known, a much older 
one, and is generally considered a very good specimen 
of the old Russian cities. 

Moscow is celebrated for its churches, of which there 
are said to be nearly four hundred. It has been the 
scene of the coronations of the czars and of the cruelties 
of Ivan the Terrible, the reading of which makes one 
inclined to wish, if he does not believe there is a state 
of future punishment, that a hell might have been 
invented for the especial torture of that human fiend. 

Moscow is named after the river Moskva. It seems 
to be a vast circle in form, with the triangular fortress. 
of the Kremlin in the centre. Our headquarters were 
the Hotel Dusaux, a well kept, large hotel, with fine, 
clean apartments, excellent cuisine, and moderate rates 
of charge, entirely at variance with English accounts, 



152 THE KREMLIN. 

which had led us to believe that the accommodations 
were inferior and charges high. Neither the hotel in 
Moscow nor that in St. Petersburg was inferior to the 
Grand or Metropole in London, as regards apartments, 
cuisine, and attendance. 

I could hardly realize being in the old Russian 
capital, until, looking out of the windows, we saw the 
walls of the Kremlin, with its quaint towers, and 
heard the rattle of droskies, saw the Russian drivers 
in their curious costumes driving them, the curious signs, 
and the rough-looking people passing and repassing. 

But our guide has the team of black stallions ready 
at the door, and we start for our first view of the sights 
of the city. 

The Kremlin ! 

This is the first feature of Moscow that rises in your 
imagination when you read or speak of the city before 
you visit it, the one sight of all others you desire to 
see and the most interesting one that you do see after 
arrival in this ancient and sacred city of the empire. 

"Kremlin " really means fortress or citadel, and comes 
from a Tartar word having that signification. It is 
really a great enclosure, two miles in circuit, which is 
crowded with churches, palaces, arsenals, watch-toAvers, 
and steeples of every conceivable design. The best 
collective view of it is had from the river-side, and 
within its walls are the most interesting historical 
sights in Moscow. It is looked upon by the Russians 
with something of the veneration with which the English 
regard the Tower of London, and its history, although 
not beginning so earlv, £oes back to 1367, since when 
down to 1812 it went through various vicissitudes and 
was largely added to and improved. Napoleon, on 
leaving after his invasion, made unsuccessful attempts 



"THE REDEEMER'S GATE." 153 

to destroy it, but it still stands a proud and central 
monument of Holy Moscow. 

There are rive great gates of entrance to the Krem- 
lin, and the one that we first entered was that we had 
heard so much of, called "The Redeemer's Gate," from 
its having a picture of our Saviour suspended over the 
archway, which, it is said, has been there since the 
foundation of the city, and which is believed to have 
such miraculous power that in ancient times the Tartar 
hordes were never able to pass it, nor could in latter 
days the powder-mines of the French army destroy it. 

The archway is beneath a magnificent square tower, 
surmounted by various small spires and a lofty steeple. 
The whole Kremlin seems to be girdled with odd-look- 
ing towers of ancient construction, some dating back 
to 1485. 

We were warned bv the omide to uncover our heads 
as we passed through the archway of the- Redeemer 
Gate and beneath the picture, as every one, even the 
emperor himself, is expected to do so, and does, so that 
even American travellers are not an exception to this 
rule. Before ascending the tower of Ivan, we halted 
to look at the great bell that stands on a little raised 
brick platform at its base. This big bell is twenty -six 
feet high, sixty-seven feet in circumference, and two 
feet in thickness ; a great piece seven feet high, which 
is broken out of its side, stands near it. 

The weight of this metallic giant is four hundred and 
forty-four thousand pounds, and as one gazes upon its 
vast bulk the question arises how it could be raised to 
the proper home of a bell, a steeple, and what force 
beside steam-power could ring it effectually, and how 
it would sound when it was rung. 

Speaking of bells, the tower of Ivan the Great is a 



154 IVAN THE TERRIBLE'S BELL-TOWER. 

veritable tower of bells, for we found four or five 
stories, one above another, as we ascended, filled with 
bells, of various descriptions and dimensions, sizes and 
tones, which we amused ourselves by tapping with our 
knuckles and pocket-knives in an endeavor to bring 
out some indication of musical tones, for which they 
are celebrated. 

In one tier we saw two small bells entirely of silver 
and of exquisite tone ; in another the monster of the 
collection, weighing sixty-four tons, a huge and pon- 
derous affair, but not one-half the weight of the broken 
monster we had inspected outside the tower. 

This tower is the loftiest in the city, and is built in 
five different stories, the last cylindrical and sur- 
mounted by the bulb, Tartar-looking cupola so com- 
mon here, but which has such a foreign, Asiatic look 
to American eyes. The bells, which are thirty-four in 
number, are suspended in the three lower stories. 

The dome is brightly gilded and glitters in the sun- 
light, and from its height attracts attention from what- 
ever point one views the city, for the top of the great 
cross above our heads is 825 feet- above the pavement. 
A fine view of the city and surrounding country was 
had after our tiresome climb, showing us the Moskva 
River at our feet, the closely crowded buildings inside 
the Kremlin, the circle after circle of the city's struc- 
tures, bounded by ramparts, the innumerable towers 
and steeples golden, green, silver, red, and white, and 
beyond all the green fields and foliage of the country. 
It is a striking and indescribable panoramic view, and 
unlike any other I have seen in Europe. 

Riding past the arsenal in the Kremlin, we saw 
displayed the cannon taken from and abandoned by 
Napoleon during Lis disastrous retreat from Moscow. 



THE RIDING-SCHOOL. 155 

They are 365 in number, and ranged along on raised 
platforms outside the walls of the building; some of 
these were left in the city, and others captured by the 
Russians and Cossacks hundreds of miles away, as they 
hung upon the flanks of the retreating army, which was 
harassed by cold and hunger and the fierce onslaught 
•of its incensed adversaries. 

Besides these French cannon there are numerous 
others, that have been captured from Austria, Sweden, 
Italy, and Spain, the entire lot forming a big park of 
about nine hundred pieces of artillery. There was also 
a huge Russian cannon standing not far from the tower 
we had just left, its bore big as a hogshead, and the piece 
weighing forty tons; it was cast in 1586 and is called 
the Czar cannon, and would doubtless do more damage 
to those operating it than to those against whom it was 
directed. The arsenal is said to contain arms sufficient 
to equip one hundred and fifty thousand men. 

A wonderful building of its kind in Moscow is a 
huge structure known as the Riding-School and de- 
signed for the use of drilling cavalry or infantry in 
severe weather. The vast extent of roofing is unsup- 
ported by pillar of any kind, affording a space of one 
hundred and sixty feet in width by nearly six hundred 
in length, in which, it is said, two entire regiments of 
cavalry can go through with their evolutions. The 
heating apparatus consists of huge earthen stoves, and 
the sides of the walls are decorated with trophies of 
arms. A peculiar arrangement of trusses and stays 
supports the vast roof; but, as the whole was undergoing 
repairs at the time of our visit, we were not permitted 
to examine its peculiar structure. It is undoubtedly 
the largest riding-school in the world. 

The Cathedral of the Assumption, situated within 



156 CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION. 

the walls of the Kremlin, is another one of those won- 
derful Russian churches teeming with wealth, and 
which one can get but an imperfect idea of in the hour 
or two occupied by the tourist in inspecting it. This 
church is interesting as being the one in which the 
Russian emperors are crowned, and as retaining very 
nearly its original form. It was built in 1325. 

When the French occupied Moscow, this church 
yielded rich spoil to the soldiers, for they stripped it 
of over twelve hundred pounds weight of silver and 
five hundred pounds of gold. Much of the silver was 
recovered from the plunderers and replaced. 

The height of this cathedral is one hundred and 
twenty-eight feet. It has five magnificent domes,, 
which we stood under and gazed upon the beautiful 
pillars supporting them, the gilded walls, statues, and 
frescos on every side forming a grand display of riches 
and architectural beauty. The screen is rich in the 
possession of a painting of the Virgin, of course pos- 
sessed of miraculous powers, and is literally over- 
whelmed with rich jewels, such as diamonds, sapphires, 
emeralds, and rubies. 

There are nearly two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars worth of jewels upon this painting, including 
a huge emerald worth over forty thousand dollars. 
The screen is adorned with numerous other paintings 
of religious subjects and scenes. A great silver shrine 
stands on the right of the screen, and contains the body 
of St. Philip, a priest who was bold enough to rebuke 
that human fiend Ivan the Terrible, and suffered death 
therefor. Splendid tombs at different corners of the 
church mark the resting-places of priests or other 
dignitaries. 

Being admitted behind the great altar-screen, we saw 



VENERATED EELICS. 157 

more of the treasures of this wonderful church. Here 
was a representation of Mt. Sinai, made of solid gold 
and silver, containing the Host ; about twenty pounds 
of each of the precious metals were used in its con- 
struction. Among other rich relics is a huge Bible, so 
large that it requires the united strength of two men 
to carry it. This was presented to the church by 
Peter the Great's mother, and the binding is one mass 
of precious stones, a perfect mine of them, worth 
hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

The eye grows weary of this profuse and prodigal 
display of wealth, so that we turn from rich golden 
cups studded with jewels, magnificent jasper vases, 
golden crosses sparkling with gems, golden marriage- 
crowns, and magnificent vestments, to the relics which 
the church considers of a most sacred character, such 
as a piece of the true cross, the hand of St. Andrew 
and head of St. Gregory, a portion of the robe of the 
Saviour, and others that I cannot recall, all of which 
were kindly and reverently displa}^ed to us by an at- 
tendant priest or sacristan, who had been encouraged 
by a handsome fee and was courteous and deferential 
to his curious American visitors. 

Within the nave of the church was the ancient 
throne of the czars, also that of the patriarch of the 
church, and a throne for the empress. The walls were 
lined with paintings — in fact, a perfect mass of gilded 
pictures. 

Close by the cathedral we had just visited was 
another, that of the Archangel Michael, a square, 
white-looking building, with five gilded domes shining 
above it. This church is remarkable for containing 
the tombs of Russian sovereigns previous to Peter the 
Great ; there are fortv-five of these tombs in the 



158 TROPHIES IN THE TREASURY. 

church, each covered with a pall, and above them are 
painted pictures of the departed, clad in loug white 
robes. 

Next to the altar, probably from the fact of his 
being the greatest sinner known in Russian royal 
history, is the tomb of John the Terrible, and behind 
the altar-screen you are shown a cross that once be- 
longed to him, covered with huge pearls, with an enor- 
mous emerald in the middle of it. 

The Treasury here is, as its name indicates, a deposi- 
tory of rich and valuable objects. Like many other 
places of interest, I can give but the merest sketch of 
the contents of this wonderful collection. To give a 
complete account would require repeated lengthy visits, 
and space that would fill a volume. Rich plate, pre- 
cious stones, gold and silver vessels and vases, trophies 
of arms, specimens of barbaric splendor and costly 
manufacture, which Russia has been collecting for 
years from India, Persia, Turkey, and Greece, are 
here in profusion, and indicate the prodigal magnifi- 
cence of the Russian court. 

Gifts, trophies, and relics are on every side of the 
bewildered visitor. One room is full of Russian and 
Circassian armor of every description,. elegantly fash- 
ioned and inwrought with gold ; in another, in which 
were trophies captured by the Russian troops on dif- 
ferent occasions, was the sword of Charles XII., the 
Lion of Sweden ; a third contained a complete assort- 
ment of Russian fire-arms, from the rude inventions of 
the fifteeth century clown to the rifles used at the present 
time — a most interesting collection of arms ; here also 
were groups of military standards, all historical, having 
been carried during different wars. One was that 
used by John the Terrible in 1552. 



THE WARDROBE. 159 

Time permitted only a glance at a room full of por- 
traits of the Romanoff family, and another of relics 
relating to the Russian royal family. Were Americans 
generally as familiar with the history of Russian sov- 
ereigns as they are with that of English and French, I 
doubt not this would be a most interesting portion of 
the collection. As for us, we could only ask our guide 
to jot clown, in note-book or memory, the names of such 
as by their peculiar appearance attracted our attention. 

We visited a room called the Wardrobe, containing 
crowns upon pedestals standing before empty thrones 
of departed monarchs. These crowns and thrones are 
weighty with rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, some of 
them big as walnuts or horse-chestnuts. One of these 
crowns was conspicuous even among this collection of 
prodigal wealth. It was a tall, mitre-shaped affair sur- 
mounted by a big ruby, from which rose a splendid 
diamond cross ; the crown itself contained no less than 
nine hundred sparkling diamonds : this valuable head- 
piece was that of John, the brother of Peter I. The 
crown of another Russian emperor, whose name I 
understood to be Michael, had a huge emerald upon 
the top of it and about two hundred other precious 
stones about it. An orb used at coronations was pro- 
fusely ornamented with diamonds and eight of the 
biggest sapphires I ever saw. 

It was hard to believe that the gems ornamenting 
these crowns could be real, so large was there size and 
so profusely were they used. But prodigality outdid 
itself in the wonderful crown made by order of Peter 
the Great for the Empress Catherine I. Just think of 
the weight and value of this affair, which contains, be- 
sides other costly stones, two thousand five hundred 
and thirty diamonds ! Other crowns, with the same 



160 A WONDERFUL THRONE. 

profuse display of pearls, diamonds, turquoises, ame- 
thysts, and elegant enamel-work, seemed but repetitions 
of lapidaries' efforts to produce novel specimens of 
their work. 

Among these were two famous thrones, one the 
royal throne of Poland, taken in 1833 from Warsaw, 
and an ivoiy throne that was brought from Constanti- 
nople, which was curiously carved with figures repre- 
senting some allegory or fable. But a throne that 
carries out one's youthful ideas of what a throne 
should be, a sort of Arabian-Nights-entertainment or 
fairy-legend affair, is one that was brought from Persia 
in 1660, which is studded all over with a wealth of 
precious stones, as though it had been out in a hard 
shower of turquoises, sapphires, diamonds, and rubies ; 
— of these there are over one thousand two hundred 
rubies and 875 diamonds. 

Here also are an orb, crown, and collar sent to Vladi- 
mir, Grand-Duke of Kief, by the Emperors Basilius and 
Constantine, from Greece — one perfect blaze of dia- 
monds and rubies. The orb has 58 diamonds, 89 rubies, 
23 sapphires, 50 emeralds, and 37 pearls. 

Such profuse and lavish display of costly gems and 
precious metals as one sees in these Russian treasuries, 
churches, and palaces has the effect of belittling their 
value in one's mind; and the practical financier cannot 
help estimating how much of the .empire's national 
debt they would extinguish if disposed of at present 
market-value, or how much good this dead capital 
might do in advancing the cause of education among 
the densely ignorant peasantry of the country. 

In this room were various articles of wearing-apparel 
of different noted members of the royal family, as 
well as the magnificent coronation-robes of others : the 



A UNIQUE EXHIBIT OF SILVER-WORK. 161 

military dress of Peter II., the books of Peter I. and 
Paul I., the English Order of the Garter sent by Queen 
Elizabeth to John the Terrible ; the coronation-robes of 
Catherine I. and Catherine II., and those of Alexander 
I., Paul, Nicholas I., and others, including those of the 
present emperor and empress. The throne of Boris 
Godunof was another gorgeous affair, covered all over 
with rubies, pearls, and turquoises. 

Then we were shown a curious double-seated throne, 
said to have been made for Peter I. and his brother 
John, witli a concealed recess behind it, which was con- 
trived for John's sister Sophia to prompt him on 
occasions. She was literally " the power behind the 
throne," and perhaps this may be the origin of that ex- 
pression. 

From this hall of wealth and riches we passed into 
another scarcely less wonderful, for it was one that 
reminded us more than anything else of a grand ex- 
hibition of the silver-workers of the world. It was a 
collection, apparently, of every known domestic utensil, 
fashioned from the precious metal. Not only those of 
the present day, but rare and curious antiques, some 
of priceless value and by the best artificers of all 
nations. One great pitcher, beautifully wrought, 
weighed twenty pounds ; a beautiful antique cup 
bore an inscription of the twelfth century. Then 
there were gifts innumerable from various royal per- 
sonages to the czar ; salvers with elegant hunting- 
scenes carved on them ; pitchers with handles wrought 
into flowers, birds, or animals ; jugs surmounted by 
knights in armor, and a bewildering museum of ele- 
gant and artistic models in silver-work. 

It would be like a descriptive catalogue to enume- 
rate the curious objects of lesser note in the other 



162 ANTIQUE AND CUMBROUS CARRIAGES. 

rooms of the Treasury, but I will mention the model 
of a new palace which that extravagant sovereign 
Catherine II. planned, which would have been a quar- 
ter of a mile long when completed, but, as she died 
soon after the corner-stone was laid, the ambitious and 
costly project was abandoned. 

The museum of carriages here in the Treasury, 
although not so extensive a collection as that at St. 
Petersburg, is still an interesting one. Conspicuous is 
one of those huge affairs that one sees pictures of in 
old English story-books or illustrations of Queen Eliza- 
beth's time, and is in fact a specimen of the carriage- 
building of that age, as the vehicle was presented by 
Queen Bess to the Czar Boris Godunof. It is ele- 
gantly gotten up, and its panels are adorned with 
paintings of battle-scenes. Then there is a little car- 
riage used by one of the emperors when a child ; an- 
other, a huge affair, belonging to the Empress Eliza- 
beth, which could be used as a dining-room for herself 
and twelve of her suite. The panels of this are also 
beautifully painted. We regarded with interest two 
of Napoleon's camp-bedsteads, captured from him dur- 
ing his Russian campaign. 

Another depository of richness, of a somewhat dif- 
ferent description, was the Patriarch's Sacristy. This 
place contains many very curious articles connected 
with the history of the Greek Church, and some of 
great antiquity. Here is kept a wonderful collection 
of silver vessels, massive in size and weight, used in 
the preparation of a sacred mixture for baptismal and 
anointing purposes. According to the rule of the church, 
every true Russian should be baptized with the sacred 
oil, or mir, so called. 

The original of this sacred mixture was, it is said, 



THE PATRIARCH'S SACRISTY MIR. 163 

sent from Constantinople to Russia on its being con- 
verted to Christianity, and we were shown the beautiful 
vase said to contain the precious liquid. A few drops 
of this are taken each year to mix with the huge 
quantity of mir prepared by the priests, with much 
ceremony, to be distributed to churches in different 
parts of the empire. The ingredients composing the 
sacred mixture are over thirty in number, including 
.essential oils, gums, perfumes, herbs, spices, etc., which 
are boiled together with great care in three huge sil- 
ver kettles, one a veritable caldron presented by Cath- 
erine II. After boiling and cooling, the few drops of 
original sacred oil are dropped in, which are supposed 
to pervade and sanctify the whole. It is then turned 
off into sixteen or eighteen great silver jars and ready 
for distribution as above mentioned. The ceremony of 
preparing this mixture occurs once in every three 
years, and is performed during Lent, by the highest 
officials of the church. 

The vases, basins, ladles, great caldrons and strainers 
used for this purpose, which were shown to us, were all 
of sterling silver, and their value may be estimated 
from the fact that their weight, as our guide told us, 
was about fourteen hundred pounds, avoirdupois. The 
place was in care of a venerable and noble-looking 
Russian priest, of the most courteous and dignified 
bearing, and who, strange to relate, refuses to receive 
any fee from visitors. Our guide was careful to advise 
us, however, that, he would appreciate highly a cere- 
monious and deferential leave-taking, as he was a man 
of noble family. Thereupon, after having inspected 
the treasures of which he was the guardian, on our way 
out, as we were about to pass him, we halted and made 
a profound obeisance. This he returned, rising from 



164 THE HOUSE OF THE HOLY SYNOD. 

his seat, bowing in deferential style, and bidding us 
adieu with a graceful wave of the hand. 

This house of the Holy Synod, as it is called, con- 
tains the holy robes, ornaments, church-vessels, etc., of 
the various patriarchs of the church, some of which 
were brought here from Constantinople. The patri- 
archs of the church were invested with their holy robes 
at consecration, and one of the oldest of these, which 
was shown to us, was one worn in the year 1308. The 
most remarkable one of this collection, which, despite 
its richness, reminds one of the wardrobe of the Grand 
Opera, is an elaborate one presented by that inhuman 
monster, John the Terrible, to the patriarch of his 
time. Royal murderers and tyrants like him seem to 
have believed they could purchase forgiveness for their 
wickedness and crimes by gifts to the church, seeking 
to ease their consciences in this manner, often by wealth 
wrung from their subjects by cruel oppression. This 
robe is of rich crimson velvet and thickly covered with 
pearls, gold plates, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds — so 
thickly covered that it weighs fifty-four pounds. A 
description of the numerous others would be, as the 
lawyers say, only " cumulative evidence " of velvet 
dresses lavishly ornamented with jewelry. 

The mitres, like the crowns I have referred to, are 
simply wonderful specimens of jeweliy-work. The 
largest one weighs nearly six pounds, and is encrusted 
with big diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and pearls. Among 
the rarest articles in this collection that I recall were 
some huge gems beautifully carved, and worn in chains 
by the priests. . 

Only think of such jewels strung on a chain for a 
priest's necklace as two great sard onyxes, 3| inches 
long and 21 inches wide, beautifully carved and en- 



ECCLESIASTICAL JEWELRY. 165 

graved with holy scenes and religious subjects! A 
great onyx bore upon it a fine carving representing the 
Crucifixion, and at the back of another is shown a frag- 
ment said to be of the robe of our Saviour, and a piece 
of stone from Calvary! Richly decorative croziers, 
vases, goblets, and dishes, of solid gold and silver, and 
other ecclesiastical treasures, also are kept here. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

One of the very oldest churches in the Kremlin, and, 
in fact, in Moscow, is that known as " The Church in the 
Wood," because when it was built it was literally in 
the woods, though now close to the palace. It is a 
curious little building to visit, and in striking contrast 
to its more magnificent neighbors, with its rude frescos 
upon its walls and narrow passages. It was used as a 
nunnery in the fifteenth century, and as a forage-stable 
by Napoleon in 1812. 

Near the Redeemer's Gate, just outside the walls of 
the Kremlin, is the church known as St. Basil the 
Beautiful. It is a curious conglomeration of Eastern 
architecture, a heterogeneous collection of domes, spires, 
and steeples. There is a central octagon spire sur- 
rounded by eight smaller ones with the Tartar or bulb- 
shaped cupolas. Then there is an indescribable mix- 
ture of pinnacles, peaks, and domes springing out in 
every direction, and the whole building is richly gilded, 
fluted, carved, and ornamented till it shines like a 
Chinese pagoda and reminds one of such a temple on a 
large scale as Barnum, the American showman, might 
put up. It certainly is the most curious exhibition, as 
a specimen of indescribable architecture, I ever saw. 
It might be called Tartar architecture from the general 
appearance. 

I counted twelve domes, every one of which was of 
different design, and many of these presented different 
colors and were ornamented in a different manner. 

166 



CHURCH OF ST. BASIL. 167 

These domes and others stand over the chapels of differ- 
ent saints within the building, which you reach by pass- 
ing through narrow passages between the walls, thick 
enough for a fortress and decorated with frescos repre- 
senting old tapestry. There were a great number of 
small chapels in this church, some rich with votive 
offerings, and we saw nothing worthy of note except 
several heavy iron chains that St. Basil was said to 
have worn as necklaces and sashes by way of penance 
and mortification during his lifetime, and which are 
now hung up above his tomb. 

The great cathedral of St. Saviour here is evidently 
designed to rival St. Isaac's of Petersburg ; it is a mag- 
nificent structure, grand beyond description, and one 
which meets your eye from every prominent point of 
view in the city. Its form is that of a Greek cross, 
and it has the usual magnificent domes of the Russian 
churches ; the great central dome is three hundred feet 
in circumference, and there are four smaller ones. 

These five great cupolas, we were told, were of 
copper, and in gilding them over nine hundred pounds 
of pure gold were required. Everything about the 
building, within and without, is on a scale of grand 
proportions and the most prodigal splendor. Its ap- 
pearance is one mass of shining white marble, with the 
gorgeous cupolas rising above, and its great cross thirty 
feet high flashing against the sky, three hundred and 
forty feet above the ground, is stupendous and over- 
whelming. 

This church was erected as a memorial temple of 
Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, and it is but quite 
recently that it has been completed. Its expense must 
of course have been millions, inasmuch as the site alone 
cost nearly a million of dollars before the foundations 



168 ST. saviour's. 

were laid, and the doors alone of the edifice, now that it 
is completed, cost over three hundred thousand dollars. 
It stands upon a beautiful natural slope overlooking 
one of the principal bridges, and has fine grounds or 
gardens about it, filled with trees, plants, and flowers. 
The exterior is richly decorated with carved figures in 
alto-relievo. I omitted to mention that the church has 
what no Russian church would be complete without, a 
splendid chime of bells. The monarch of the group is a 
deep-toned giant of twenty-six tons weight. 

Within, all is one gorgeous display of magnificently 
wrought marble, jasper, and porphyry. The sides are 
of different kinds of marble, beautifully polished ; great 
columns of jasper and rhodonite support the roof. The 
inside of the dome is richly frescoed with scenes from 
the life of Christ, and the screen one mass of elegant 
wrought work and gilding. All along one side of the 
church are scenes from the War of 1812, painted by 
Russian artists. The view looking up as one stands 
beneath the great dome is superb. 

The church, as stated, having been finished but a 
few years, was at the time of our visit in its newest 
gloss as regards richness of gilding, freshness of fres- 
cos, and sheen of polished marbles. 

The height from floor to ceiling, within, is 230 feet, 
and the floor, which is entirely of marble, is 225 feet 
square, and cost a million and a half dollars. You feel 
dwarfed amid such grand proportions, for the building 
will hold over ten thousand people, and your guide, 
knowing the American propensity to ask the cost of 
things, launches out the big figures of some of the 
items, like 375,000 roubles, or over one hundred and 
thirty thousand dollars, for six hundred and forty great 
candelabra that stand in one row, and which, when 



VISITING THE SANCTUM SANCTORUM. 169 

filled with lighted wax candles, must produce a superb 
effect. There are over twelve hundred of these can- 
delabra in all, costing about two hundred thousand 
dollars. 

Behind the screen, in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the 
patriarch, were some very fine modern paintings of 
scriptural subjects, besides relics and rich vessels be- 
longing to the church, which we were desirous of see- 
ing, but an incorruptible guardian stood at the entrance. 
Our guide, however, was equal to the occasion. He 
bade us stand quietly while he went to interview the 
principal priest, a tall, venerable man, who stood not 
far from us, engaged in conversation with two other 
priests or monks. 

As soon as the latter left the priest, our guide ap- 
proached with profound obeisance, which was returned, 
took him by the hand, said a few sentences to the rev- 
erend father, who turned towards where we were 
standing with a grave bow of the head. We returned 
the salutation with hand on heart, after the manner of 
the tragedian called before the curtain at the end of a 
successful performance. 

This was followed by an imperative wave of the 
hand by the priest to the official on duty at the en- 
trance of the sanctuary, which had a magical effect, 
changing him from the inflexible guardian to the most 
deferential of servitors as he conducted us within the 
sacred limits, where were some superb large paintings 
by native artists, one (if memory serves me) from the 
pencil of the artist who painted the " Russian Wedding," 
which has excited so much attention in America. The 
light is so managed, by windows above, as to give a 
wonderfully fine effect to these paintings. 

The spacious interior of this church is less floridly 



170 LAST LOOK AT A MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE. 

decorated than the older Russian churches, but the 
marbles and stone-work are equally elegant and expen- 
sive. The gilding upon the live domes cost an amount 
equal to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars of 
our money. 

This magnificent temple we rode around again after 
leaving it, to take in its grand extent and beautiful 
proportions. Its foundation is entirely of granite 
brought from the quarries of Finland, and the structure 
covers an area of over seventy-three thousand feet, and 
is surrounded by grounds beautifully laid out and 
bright with many-colored flowers at the time of our 
visit. I am in doubt as to whether this or St. Isaac's 
is the most imposing structure. The former is grand 
and imposing, but the prevailing characteristic of St. 
Saviour's is its beauty, and the visitor lingers from 
point to point, loath to leave so luxurious a treat of 
exquisite finish and proportions. 

Upon reentering our carriage, after visiting this 
church, I inquired of the guide what words he used 
with such magical effect upon the priest by whose 
favor we received such attention. 

" I mentioned to him," said he, " that it was a pity 
that the American consul and his secretary should 
be debarred from visiting all parts of this church, 
of which they had heard so much and travelled so far 
to see." 

" American consul ! Why, I hold no such office ! " 

"I am aware of it, and did not say that you did. 
Nevertheless, that reference gained you the bow that 
you were thoughtful enough to return." 

"Indeed!" 

"Yes. I then intimated that you desired me to 
make a small offering to the church, which was done 



THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 171 

when I shook hands with him and conveyed three rou- 
bles to his palm." 

"That accounted for the withdrawal and courtesy of 
the guard? " 

"Yes, that and another rouble to the aforesaid 
guard ; roubles purchase many privileges in Russia." 

One of the most wonderful institutions in Moscow is 
the foundling hospital. This is an enormous building, 
not far from the Kremlin. Some idea of its size may be 
had from the fact that it has 2228 windows and that it 
receives over fifteen thousand children annually. While 
we sat in the office of reception, three came in within 
half an hour. No questions are asked, except if the 
child has been baptized and what are its name and age; 
these are at once entered upon a book and ticket, the 
boys' on a ticket of one color and girls' upon a ticket of 
another color. Neither are these children deposited sur- 
reptitiously at the door, but brought in by relatives and 
even their own mothers. After being properly registered 
by three young women (themselves former foundlings), 
the infant has a number placed around its neck, corre- 
sponding to a number given to the person bringing it 
to the institution; it is then taken into another room, 
where it is received by trained nurses, and then given 
in charge of one of the numerous nurses in attendance, 
who washes it and dresses it. Soon after it is sub- 
jected to a thorough medical examination to see if it is 
suffering from any disease, and if found to be is sent 
at once to a ward of the hospital devoted to such, 
where it has the best of medical care and attention. 
Infants remain in the institution one month, during 
which time they are vaccinated, and then, if found in 
healthy condition, they are sent with their nurse to the 
village to which the latter belongs, she receiving a sum 



172 TRAINING OF THE INMATES. 

equal to about a dollar and a quarter per month for 
care of the infant until it becomes of age, and under 
the supervision of the doctor of the district, who is 
accountable to the government authorities. 

Of course, a very large proportion of these children 
are of illegitimate birth, but the mothers contrive (if 
they desire it) to keep track of their offspring by means 
of the ticket given them, and also, as many of them do, 
by tattooing a small mark upon the arm or some por- 
tion of the body. Furthermore, as nurses are in con- 
stant demand, mothers do not hesitate to apply for 
positions in that capacity, and seek with good success 
to obtain their own children. So it would appear that 
the mother of an illegitimate child receives a premium 
of a dollar and a quarter per week for its support. 
The mother may claim the child at any time before it 
is ten j'ears of age "by proving property and (without) 
paying charges." 

The boys, when old enough, are liable to military 
service ; some are taught trades at an industrial school 
in Moscow, others become agricultural laborers. The 
girls are trained in various occupations, including 
domestic service ; many of them are taken back to the 
hospital and taught to be trained nurses, and here let 
me say a more perfect S}~stem of faithful, thorough, 
and careful treatment does not seem possible than that 
which we saw in passing through the wards of this vast 
hospital. 

Every part of it is scrupulously neat and under the 
best of medical and domestic management, even to the 
minutest details. The infants are bathed in conven- 
iently shaped flannel-lined tubs, dressed upon pillows 
made for the purpose, and handled with the utmost care 
and dexterity by the nurses, who seem to be wonderful 



AN ADMIRABLE SYSTEM. 173 

adepts at their work. The corps of physicians and 
surgeons is large, and the most rigid skill is exercised 
not only in the care of the infants, but as regards the 
food and comfort of the wet-nurses. 

It is something of a sight one sees in going into this 
great community of twelve or fifteen hundred babies 
and nearly a thousand wet-nurses. In one of the great 
wards it was visiting day, and there were many young 
mothers in to see and some to take farewell of their 
offspring, giving instructions to the nurses to whom 
they had been assigned, or covertly taking a farewell 
kiss and tearful adieu of some little slumberer in its 
white cot. Some of these were by no means from the 
poorest walks of life. Many of the latter contrive to 
get employment and assignment to their own children. 

From the wards where the new-comers were washed, 
inspected, and fed on first arrival, we passed through 
room after room of others who were passing their 
month of probation in the institution ; and the moder- 
ate amount of outcry, the comfort and cleanliness 
of cots and nurses and all the surroundings attested 
the degree of perfection to which the management of 
the establishment and the care of the infants have 
been carried. 

The sick-wards are characterized by the same care, 
and have nurses who have been trained in the treatment 
of different complaints, even to those of many poor little 
creatures whose hours of life were already numbered. 
Not only this, but one department was devoted to the 
care of children of premature birth. These little crea- 
tures are placed in large, egg-shaped, copper cradles, 
lined with soft flannels, the bottom and sides of the 
cradle being filled with hot water, kept at carefully 
regulated temperature, and provided with a glazed top 



174 THE BAKERIES AND LAUNDRIES. 

affording a view of the occupant who is undergoing 
this process of bringing forward. 

The bodies of such as die during the month are sub- 
jected to post-mortem examination, and a full report 
made by the examining surgeons as to the cause of 
death, and other facts resulting from the examination, 
so that it will be seen the hospital affords to the stu- 
dent also one of the best and most practical medical 
schools for the study of the diseases of children. -After 
a walk through the different wards of the vast building, 
we next visited its refectories for nurses, the laundries, 
bakery, kitchen, etc. 

In a room off the bakery were great frames or open 
shelves where hundreds and hundreds of loaves of bread 
were stored ; the coarse brown bread of the country for 
ordinary attendants, and more nutritious loaves for the 
wet-nurses. The latter were also allowed a certain 
amount of a sort of beer, a mild and cheap Russian 
concoction said to contain many nutritive qualities. 

The laundries, bakeries, and cooking arrangements 
seemed to be of the most approved description, and on 
the extensive scale required for this institution, which 
must employ some thousands within its walls. The 
women serving as nurses get about a dollar and thirty 
cents per week besides the good fare provided for them 
by the institution. The } r early grant of the govern- 
ment to it is about one million of dollars. Although 
this hospital seems to encourage immorality and fraud, 
yet the Russians tell us that not 5 per cent, of the 
births of Russia are illegitimate, although statistics also 
show that in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where these 
foundling hospitals are located, the percentage runs up 
to over 25 or 35 per cent. — Moscow taking the lead, 
and also leading Paris 10 per cent. 



STATISTICS OF ILLEGITIMACY IN RUSSIA. 175 

The managers of the hospital informed us that a 
very large proportion of the children brought to the 
hospital were of legitimate birth, their parents being of 
the laboring class, and at service at such low wages 
that they could give neither the time nor the means to 
bring up their children, and, being assured of better 
care than they could give, resigned them here, with the 
hope of claiming them before they reached the age of 
ten years. Notwithstanding its excellent management, 
the institution may perhaps in many respects be con- 
sidered a questionable charity. 

The yearly grant to this hospital from the govern- 
ment is nearly a million of dollars. The number of 
foundlings left annually here has reached the number 
of 13,865, but it is a question whether any increase of 
population is effected by these foundling hospitals, for 
there is said to be great mortality among the children 
after leaving the hospital, owing to the rigor of the 
climate and the rough peasant-fare they are obliged to 
put up with ; for the dull, monotonous life of the Rus- 
sian peasantry must be dreary in the extreme — indeed, 
far below that of the North American savage as far as 
liberty, freedom, and exercise are concerned, and the 
brutish faces of some of them that we saw were below 
those, in point of intellect, of the Digger Indian of 
North America. 

No visitor to Moscow will think of leaving the city 
without a ride out to Sparrow Hills, the point where 
Napoleon Bonaparte obtained his first view of Moscow, 
when he made that most wonderful crusade of modern 
times, the invasion of Russia, with his vast and well 
equipped army — a wonderful achievement by the great- 
est soldier of the age, followed by his most disastrous of 
defeats — the complete annihilation of his mighty host. 



176 MOSCOW — HISTORICAL RESUME. 

Moscow, it will be remembered, is a far more ancient 
city than St. Petersburg. It was founded nearly eight 
hundred years ago, defended against Tamerlane the 
Tartar, burned by Tartar invaders, but, rising Phoenix- 
like from repeated conflagrations, it was recognized as 
the Muscovite capital in the fourteenth century, and was, 
and is still, dear to the heart of every true Russian. 

The burning of this holy city of Russia is described 
as the grandest sacrifice ever made by a nation, that, 
finding it could not be defended from victorious foes, 
chose to destroy the dearest treasure of the Russian 
heart, the holiest of her shrines, and the precious 
memories of centuries, rather than they should be 
enjoyed by the conquerors. 

There are said to be 350 churches in Moscow, or, 
counting all places of worship, 365 — one for every 
clay in the year ; and the city itself seems to be sur- 
rounded by two or three grand boulevards or cause- 
ways, which are said to mark the site of ancient 
fortifications against incursions of the Tartars. But 
Moscow is fast becoming a great centre of manufac- 
tures and a commercial and business city, the railway 
system affording means for reception of material and 
distribution of products, so that ere long the semi- 
barbaric architecture and flavor of Eastern life which 
it now possesses will gradually give way to the advance 
of European ideas and the pronounced features of 
modern civilization. 

It was over a bridge across the Moskva River, near 
Sparrow Hills, that one of the main columns of the 
French army passed on entering the city. The ride to 
this point is over a very bad road, but, the point once 
gained, the view is worth seeing. A small hotel is 
built upon a prominent point here, with a brotid covered 



SPARROW HILLS. 177 

platform, upon which you may sit and enjoy the fra- 
grant and delicious glass of Russian tea with its float- 
ing slice of lemon, and such other light refreshment as 
you may order, and look down upon the glittering dis- 
play of spires, domes, steeples, and churches, with 
their gilded points flashing in the sunshine and their 
odd and variegated colors seeming like a huge kaleido- 
scope in the distance. 

Near here, on Salutation Hill, Napoleon sat, sur- 
rounded by his staff, on the 14th of September, 1812, 
gazing upon the walls of the distant Kremlin, the glit- 
tering spires and gilded domes of the city, while a 
division of his army in battle array at the foot awaited 
in vain the advance of the Russian army that he ex- 
pected would defend their holy city. But none came, 
and his advanced guard, under Murat, entered the city 
and took possession of the Kremlin, Napoleon himself 
following the next day. 

No sooner, however, was the conqueror within the 
ancient palace than the development of Russian tac- 
tics began with the conflagration, and, after a stay 
of a little over a month, Napoleon was compelled to 
abandon the city and began his disastrous retreat, in 
which onty forty thousand men out of the Grand Army 
escaped the general wreck. 

It is interesting to imaginative minds to stand upon 
spots like this, so celebrated in history. Here where 
the great soldier gazed upon the goal of his ambition, 
or at Waterloo, where lay the Guards whose withering 
fire hurled back the hitherto invincible Imperial Guard 
and settled the fate of the modern Csesar, the mind 
must be dull indeed not to be stirred by the recollec- 
tion of the stirring scenes that were there enacted. 

On our ride back to Moscow we passed the houses 



178 A SAD SIGHT. 

of the Russian peasants, rough-looking cabins made of 
peeled logs, somewhat after the style of Western 
American log cabins. In Russian villages, even ot 
considerable size, all the houses, with the exception of 
two or three, which are the residences of officials, are 
poor and wretched-looking affairs, but the church will 
be found rich, and often blazing with precious metal 
enough to purchase the whole settlement. 

The poorer class of peasants we saw on the road, 
when returning, were in rough, coarse clothing and 
sheepskin garments, and at the corner of one house or 
workshop was a group about to enjoy their evening 
meal, which appeared to be a round tub of sour beer 
into which chopped-up bits of cold cabbage and 
cucumbers had been thrown. 

But soon after passing this group we met a sadder 
sight — a procession of Siberian exiles guarded by 
mounted Cossack soldiers, on their long march to that 
region of banishment and captivity. This band was 
thirty or forty in number, chained together in couples, 
some wearing chains from the wrists to the ankles ; 
the latter were said to be either thieves or murderers. 
Behind these prisoners, who were on foot, came six or 
eight rude carts in which were the wives and children 
of some of the prisoners, who were permitted to accom- 
pany them. According to the laws of the empire, a 
man exiled to Siberia is legally dead, and his wife may 
marry again. These gangs of convicts march from 
eight to twelve miles a day and are served with rations 
of biscuit aiid salt beef, and such water as they can 
get by the way. There is, however, a general feeling 
of pity felt for them all along the route, and the in- 
habitants of the villages through which they pass set 
out bread, cabbage soup, and jugs of beer for them 



FATE AND SYMPATHY. 179 

by the roadside, which they are permitted to take as 
they pass. No one is allowed to approach or speak to 
them on the march, which is a long and painful one, 
and the fatigues of which, combined with the sufferings 
of having often to bivouac in the pine-forests or on the 
barren steppes with insufficient shelter, cause many to 
perish on the six or eight weeks' terrible march. The 
group which passed us had few whose countenances or 
appearance gave any indications that they were other 
than degraded specimens of their class. 

Later on, when we encountered another group near 
Nijni Novgorod, there were many of a much better 
personal appearance that might have been political 
prisoners, but they were chained together, men and 
women, with others of the vilest and most brutal 
physiognomy, and I am told that alleged women con- 
spirators and female thieves and murderers are linked 
together in the gang, or delicate females who have 
been accused of promoting treasonable plots were 
chained together with the lowest scum of female 
criminals. Men are mixed together in like manner, 
the murderer and the scholar, the drunken robber, 
suspected school-teacher, brutish assassins, and young 
students. 

In one of these groups that were passing, I noticed a 
tall, dejected-looking man, evidently of better grade 
than his immediate companions, who looked at us with 
such a gaze of inexpressible sadness that on the im- 
pulse of the moment I tossed a piece of silver towards 
him. As he stooped to pick it up, one of the Cossack 
guard rushed up, and, giving him a brutal blow, that 
nearly felled him to the ground, seized the coin, while 
another rode up to our carriage, which was drawn up 
at the roadside, and roundly berated the driver. 



180 SIBERIA — DEATH IN LIFE. 

It must be a terrible region in some portions of 
Siberia to which these exiles are sent by clemency (?) 
of the czar. In some parts of the country, notably 
beyond Tomsk and Ienissa, there are but three months 
that are not winter, and for three months in the long 
winter the days are but six hours Long, and the labors 
and terrors of the servitude there, under governors, 
task-masters, and soldiers (who themselves have been 
sent there as offenders), although they have from time 
to time been described, are probably beyond what can 
be imagined. Once there, it is almost impossible to 
escape, owing to the long distance to be travelled, as 
well as the extreme difficulty of procuring proper 
supplies, passport, or means to preserve life on the 
journey. 

Capital punishment does not prevail in Russia, but 
it may be considered a worse punishment to be con- 
demned to the slow but sure death in the shaft of 
quicksilver mines, under the lash of brutal task-masters. 
Those condemned to these mines are supposed to be 
of the worst class of convicts, such as thieves and as- 
sassins, and their lives rarely last more than ten years, 
health being exhausted in much less time, as they live, 
work, and sleep in the mines, and have but two holi- 
days a year, Christmas and Easter. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Occasional stories of the escape of prisoners from 
Siberia have been told, but I think the most interest- 
ing and reliable one of modern date is that written by 
Mr. William Westall, a year or two ago, in the Contem- 
porary Revieiv, of the escape of a political prisoner from 
Eastern Siberia. Mr. Westall says that, although the 
difficulty of escape is great from Western Siberia, it is 
still greater from Eastern, and, although a compara- 
tively easy matter to elude the officers, it is almost 
impossible to leave the country. 

The following is the prisoner's story, in his own 
words, which Mr. Westall says can be vouched for as 
being in strict accordance with the truth. All that the 
writer has done is to omit giving the names of the 
persons, and to pass over some minor facts which might 
be of interest to the Russian police. The narrator is a 
man not more than thirty years old, and of quiet de- 
meanor. To look at him, one would never think that 
he had passed through such an eventful life. 

"I was born at St. Petersburg, and at an early age 
I entered the Royal G}nnnasium of that city, and gradu- 
ated from that institution at fifteen. I determined to 
study medicine, and after three years entered the Im- 
perial Pharmacy of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg, 
and was in the employ of the government. As every 
one has to serve the government in some way, I deter- 
mined on this course, as being nearest to my chosen 
profession. I was assigned to various pharmacies es- 

181 



182 THE STORY OF AN EXILE. 

tablished in Russia by the government, and also served 
in the medical department attached to the army in the 
war with the Turcomans. In time I returned to St. 
Petersburg. I always had a taste for literary pursuits, 
and contributed some chapters to a book published 
about five years ago, 'The Four Brothers,' the title of 
which bore reference to Alexander II. and his three 
brothers, who led profligate lives, misusing the money 
wrung from the blood of the people. My article 
severely censured these princes. These sketches were 
afterward followed by articles published in ' The Will 
of the People,' a Nihilistic organ, the numbers of which 
were issued monthly, and printed in a cellar of St. 
Petersburg. 

" On the 13th of February, 1882, at 2 o'clock in the 
afternoon, as I was walking home from the Pharmacy 
St. Catherine, I was accosted by an elderly man, who 
commanded me to follow him. Thinking lie was jest- 
ing, I turned to him with some trivial remark, when 
he told me he was an officer of the secret service, and 
that I was arrested as a Nihilist ; at the same time he 
showed me his badge. I must have been betrayed by 
some one, as no one not in sympathy with my Nihilistic 
ideas knew anything about my actions outside of my 
position. 

" I was taken to the police-station, searched, and all 
my valuables were confiscated. In less than an hour 
I was summoned before a court-martial, and sentenced 
to Siberia, to go with the next body of prisoners. No 
time was specified as to how long I was to remain in 
exile. As whatever happens to a Nihilist is at once 
known by his friends, my father was instantly informed 
of my arrest. He hurried to the police-station to see 
me. Of course, my father had much to tell me. We 



FAREWELL TO HIS FATHER. 183 

were, however, obliged to carry on our conversation 
aloud, in Russian. Any secret communication was 
apparently impossible. My father (God bless him !) 
overcame this great difficulty. Surrounded as we were 
by the officers and guard, not a word could be spoken 
but what they could hear. But he had arranged for 
this emergency. He had bribed the jailer, for money 
will do anything in Russia. At a stated signal, the 
jailer was to come in and attract the attention of the 
officers. Then my father, in a few words, rapidly 
spoken, in French, assured me that he had made the 
fullest arrangements for my escape. 

" This interview with my father, which brought some 
hope to me, only took a few moments. Still, the future 
was so uncertain, and the chances of escape so difficult, 
that I quite despaired of ever seeing him again. My 
father had not the time to give me the full details of 
the plan, but, still, what he told me I retained in my 
memory, and recalled on my weary journey afterward 
even the inflections of his voice. 

" My father threw his arms around my neck, whis- 
pered a word of consolation in my ears, and we were 
parted. I was transferred to the city prison, and put 
in a cell thirty feet under ground. In this horrid 
dungeon I could not tell night from day. I remember 
it w T as cell No. 14 — a celebrated one, as nearly all the 
political prisoners of the last twenty years have been 
confined there. I suppose I must have stayed there 
twenty-four hours, but, as it was pitch-dark, it might 
have been longer. I was taken from the cell on the 
15th of February ; my clothes were stripped from my 
back. Prisoners' clothes, I have every reason to sup- 
pose, are stolen by the police, being considered as their 
perquisites, and sold for their benefit. I was clad in 



184 THE CONVICT GARB. 

the convict's dress, a long cloak made of the coarsest 
cloth, resembling a horse-blanket. On mj back was 
painted a yellow diamond, the mark of a political con- 
vict. I was ironed hand and foot and placed between 
two friends of mine, who had been arrested a short time 
before. In the etapes were murderers, thieves, and 
criminals of every description. 

" From St. Petersburg we proceeded by rail to 
Moscow, thence to Nijni Novgorod, and from there by 
steamer to Samara. We next took the train to Oren- 
burg, the last town on the Russian frontier. Then we 
crossed the border into the Kirghiz country. When 
in Siberia we travelled on foot, though the political 
prisoners might ride if they wished to. We usually 
travelled nearly twenty American miles a day. In 
Siberia our irons were removed ; and we were allowed 
to converse freely among ourselves, a privilege before 
this denied us. Our guards were generally good- 
natured, but strict discipline was enforced. All we 
had to eat was three pounds of Russian black bread a 
day, made of the coarsest barley. A little salt was 
given with the bread. Those who had money could 
purchase brandy or vodki. Our halts on our weary 
march were made at numerous kabalcs along the road. 
A Jcabalc is a large barnlike structure, consisting of a 
bare room with benches around it. In entering one of 
these places there is a general rush for the benches. 
Those who are weak and ill, or are not lucky enough 
to get a bench, pass the night in the middle of the 
floor. 

" The first important town we reached in Siberia 
was Tobolsk, and from there we pushed on to Tomsk, 
which was to have been our last station. The time 
occupied in going so far had been fully two months, 



A DISGUISED FBIEND. 185 

and on our weary journey we had tramped nearly two 
thousand miles. During all this time, you can well 
imagine, I sometimes lost courage and despaired of 
ever being rescued. 

"Now comes the most interesting part of my story. 
We did not go into the town of Tomsk, but stopped at 
a kabak about twenty miles outside of the place. 
While in the kabak I noticed a man who acted as if 
he were drunk. This person asked us who was going 
to treat. We told him we had no money. 4 Well,' 
said he, ' I'll treat you.' While we were drinking some 
vodki, the man managed to tell us who he was, for he 
was so disguised that it was impossible for us to recog- 
nize him. It was a friend, an engineer, the man my 
father had employed to save me. He had been in 
Tomsk, so he told us, some time, and had enlisted as 
a blacksmith. A portion of his duty was to shackle 
and unshackle the prisoners. He told us we must ask 
permission of the guards to take a bath. 

" Baths in Russia and Siberia are far different from 
those in America. Nearly every peasant's house has 
its bath. This consists of a small out-house in which 
stones are heated red-hot and water thrown over them. 
The bather stands in the vapor. Consent to bathe 
was granted us. After we had finished our bath, my 
friend replaced our irons, but failed to lock them. 
While we were in the bath, the blacksmith had plied 
the officers and guards with so much vodki that they 
all were in a kind of half-drunken stupor. The man 
who examined our irons was too much fuddled to 
notice that they were not locked. 

44 We lay down and kept perfectly still till mid- 
night. Then, quietly slipping our irons, we stole softly 
out of the kabak, running as hard as we could until 



186 DELIVERANCE. 

we were out of sight of the house. We made for a 
small ravine near the icabak. Here my rescuer was 
waiting for us. He had secured a horse and wagon. 
We scrambled into the wagon, and, lashing the horse, 
madly plunged into the densest part of the forest. 
After going along at a breakneck speed for about ten 
miles, we stopped the horse and stayed in the forest 
till morning. 

" There was a change of clothes in the wagon, and 
we threw aside our convict garb and assumed the 
uniform of Russian officers. While on our way to 
Tomsk we heard a terrific sound of trampling hoofs, 
and were in momentary fear of being overtaken. We 
thought it might be a troop of Cossacks. Unfortu- 
nately for us, the animal which pulled our wagon was a 
mare, and a herd of wild horses had scented her. We 
turned the animal loose, when, rejoicing at her freedom, 
she ran away with the rest of her newly found friends. 
We burned our wagon and proceeded on our way to 
Tomsk on foot. Here we remained only long enough 
to hurry off in the next post to Yeniseisk. Up the 
Yenisei River we took a canal-boat to Techoul-Kora. 

" I forgot to state that all prisoners in Russia have 
one-half their heads shaved. So, while hiding in the 
forest around Tomsk, we took turns in cutting one 
another's hair. How different was our journey home- 
ward ! With plenty of money, given us by our res- 
cuer, Ave took the fastest boats and had the speediest 
horses. If we happened to pass a fortress or band of 
prisoners, the officers saluted us, and the peasants 
treated us as if we were the truest friends the czar 
ever had. From Techoul-Kora we made our way back 
to Russia. As soon as we crossed the border, we 
changed our dress to that of civilians. I was dis- 



MEETS HIS FATHER IN VILNA. 187 

guised as a coachman. In Russia great care had to 
be taken. We travelled only on the most unfre- 
quented roads, and associated with no one whom we 
did not know to be friendly to our cause. After reach- 
ing Ekaterinburg we crossed the Ural Mountains to 
Kazan, where I parted from my friends and the engi- 
neer. Picture to yourself the sorrow of leaving the 
man who had risked his life to save ours. It was easy 
enough to travel in Russia ; any one can do that, pro- 
viding he has plenty of money. 

"From Nijni Novgorod I went to Vilna, a small 
town in Poland, where, to my intense delight, I met 
my father. He told me that all his fortune had been 
confiscated by the government, and that I must leave 
the country at once. Giving me a small sum of money, 
my gold watch and chain, he bade me good-bye. From 
Vilna I went to Koons, where I took a steamer on the 
Niemen River to Judgeborg, a small town in Poland, 
only twenty miles from Germany. Now the question 
was, how was I to get out of Russia without a pass- 
port ? That difficulty was easily overcome. There are 
any number of people who, for the sum of from three 
to five roubles, will smuggle you across, though you 
stand in constant danger of being captured by a kind 
of mounted police, wdiose duty it is to guard the 
boundary line. 

"After running some great risks in Judgeborg, I 
finally came across one of these people whom I thought 
could aid me in getting out of the blackest country on 
the face of the earth. The man was to meet me" at 
12 o'clock at night. I went to bed and stayed there 
till nearly the appointed hour. Then rising and dress- 
ing myself, I left the house. I found my wagoner 
waiting for me. These men secure fourteen days' 



188 CROSSING THE FRONTIER. 

passes from the government, which allows them to 
take travellers and baggage into Germany. During 
my drive all my former adventures, even to the 
simplest incidents of my childhood, were vividly 
recalled to my mind. I rejoiced at leaving Russia, 
but thought of my father, mother, sisters, brothers, 
and friends, whom I might never see again. 

"The Russian border is separated from Germany by 
a narrow creek, not wider than an ordinary room. My 
preozschick ordered me to get out of the wagon. He 
alighted first, taking the precaution of lying flat on the 
road. He placed his ear to the ground so as to listen 
if there was not an obejschick in the neighborhood. 
Not hearing any sound, he told me to push on. Leap- 
ing across the creek, I was for the first time a free 
man, though not yet entirely out of the clutches of the 
Russian government. I ran as fast as my legs would 
carry me, when suddenly I stopped. Directly in front 
of me I saw a man. He was lying flat on his back. 
Good God ! He was a police guard. There he lay, 
sleeping soundly, holding his horse's bridle, the horse 
quietly cropping the grass. The animal had his head 
turned away from me. The man must have been 
drunk. Drawing my knife, the only weapon I had, I 
made up my mind that it was a question of life or 
death. I jumped over the body of the prostrate man. 
Had he risen from his sleep or made a motion to stop 
me, I should have tried to have given him a death- 
thrust with my knife. 

" How far I ran I don't know, but in my confusion 
I took the wrong road and ran in a circle almost to the 
Russian border. I was about to enter the guard-house, 
a large white building, which bore some resemblance 
to a hotel my wagoner had directed me to. I had 



GOING TO THE NEW WORLD. 189 

nearly reached the building when, on the entrance, 1 
espied, above the door, the Russian arms. Fortunately, 
it was early in the morning, and no one was awake. I 
can assure you I lost no time in regaining the road. 
After a while I reached the hotel I was seeking. I had 
barely strength enough to knock at the door, and when 
I got inside I had to be assisted to my room. I trav- 
elled through various small towns in Germany until I 
reached Berlin. I intended staying in Germany, but, 
as I could get no work in my profession, I went to 
Havre. Here my means were exhausted. I pawned 
my watch, and, hearing that there would be a steamer 
for New York, I made up my mind to try my fortune 
in America, bought a steerage ticket, and landed in 
New York City in April, 1883, with seventeen dollars 
in my pocket." 

It is generally understood that many of the political 
arrests in Russia and banishments to Siberia have been 
quietly and secretly done by the government, in some 
cases, as asserted, the victims disappearing so suddenly 
as to leave no clew, even to friends and relatives, of 
their whereabouts. 

The worst feature of some of these political arrests 
is that many who are but suspected of conspiracy 
against the government are subjected to imprisonment 
and often have the greatest difficulty in communicat- 
ing with their friends, while others who have inno- 
cently transacted business with Nihilists or conspirators, 
not knowing them as such, are torn from home and 
friends, and, if we can believe English accounts, given 
no opportunity to know what charges are made against 
them or opportunity to disprove them. 

A recent case was recorded by a correspondent of 
the Levant Herald of the strange meeting of a learned 



190 A STRANGE RENCONTRE. 

professor in the wilds of Siberia by one of his former 
students, who, as a civil engineer, was in Central Asia 
for some time. 

The monotony of his residence in those remote 
provinces was broken by an occasional hunting expe- 
dition into Siberia. On one of these trapping expedi- 
tions, which included a younger member of one of the 
grand-ducal families, the party was one evening be- 
lated in a pine-forest and at some distance from the 
day's bivouac. They were utterly astray. A sten- 
torian view-halloo, reverberating through the silent 
recesses of the forest-depths, brought to the assistance 
and guidance of the party a wood-cutter — an old man, 
of some threescore years, with tangled locks, coarse 
caftan, and bark-swathed feet. Under the old man's 
guidance, the party found a rude hut, a charcoal fire, 
and some simple cooking-utensils. 

The engineer noticed that the old wood-cutter, when 
unobserved, scanned his face rather attentively. He 
took a quiet opportunity of asking the old man if he 
observed in him any resemblance to some one he had 
previously known. 

" A very strong resemblance," was the reply. " Were 
you not some fifteen years ago a student of the Riche- 
levski Gymnase in Odessa?" 

The engineer answered affirmatively. 

"And do you remember Professor ? " 

" Certainly ; he was a man beloved by every student 
in his class. I shall always remember kindly the ami- 
able and learned professor who disappeared so suddenly 
and mysteriously from Odessa. But what do you know 
of him ? " 

The old wood-cutter for the first time smiled. The 
heavy moustache and beard had hidden the lines of the 



THE VICISSITUDES OF A PHILOLOGIST. 191 

mouth in repose. The young engineer had not forgot- 
ten the peculiarly sad sweetness of his old professor's 
smile. The ragged and picturesque wood-cutter and 
the former learned professor of Sanscrit and compara- 
tive philology were the same. 

" The rencontre," continues the correspondent, "was, 
under the circumstances, naturally at once both pleas- 
ing and painful to my friend, to whose immediate and 
anxious inquiries the old man replied sadly : — 

" ' All God's will, my boy. As to the suddenness and 
mystery of my disappearance from Odessa, the secret 
police might have explained. Nothing beyond an un- 
founded suspicion of disaffection to our Little Father 
and a preposterous charge of disseminating a revolution- 
ary doctrine have sent me to this life-long banishment. 
But I do not repine. I have sufficient philosophy left 
to apply myself to the felling of pine-trees with the 
same zest as that with which I formerly delighted to 
pursue a knotty philological problem. 

" ; Am I not wise in m}^ generation and old age ? I 
am deprived of the sight and companionship of old 
friends, but God gives me health and a portion of con- 
tentment. My masters pay me with but few unkind 
words and two roubles a week. My old Odessa pupils 
paid me six roubles an hour. But what of that? I 
have sufficient. Sometimes old memories draw tightly 
round the heart and give me infinite pain. Then I 
swing my heavy adze with greater force, and endeavor 
to forget. It is to me a joy to look upon the still 
youthful face of my old pupil, but do not probe my 
heart, child. I ask you not to speak to me at parting. 
You were alwa} T s obedient, and you hear me. God 
keep you ! Good-bye ! ' " 

The old man would not allow the friend to convey 



192 THE BLESSING OF LIBERTY. 

any messages to relatives or acquaintances, who, he 
said, had probably long since forgotten his existence, 
and he would not disturb dead memories, so that 
nothing could be done beyond an affectionate pressure 
of the hand, without a word, at leave-taking. 

How many others are there like the old professor, 
men also of birth, breeding, and brilliant intellectual 
parts, languishing out their lives in the dreary wilds of 
Siberia for a baseless suspicion ? The reflection is 
saddening, and it also comes home to us after inspect- 
ing the laboriously cut and elegantly carved pillars of 
churches, from stone of almost adamantine hardness, 
pedestals, stone steps, pediments, columns, and other 
work from Siberian quarries. 

For one thinks that this beautiful work, that repre- 
sents years of painful and careful application, may 
have been wrought with aching hearts and washed by 
the hopeless tears of those longing for the sight of 
loved ones and far distant home. 

On the other hand, portions of Siberia are repre- 
sented as flourishing and even pleasant places for the 
average Russian to live in, and with better opportuni- 
ties than are afforded in the generality of Russian 
villages. But while not much can be said in praise of 
the villages of Russian peasants, it is a fact among all 
peoples that it is rare that any compensation can be 
found for the deprivation of one's liberty. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Having occasion to make a remittance to a friend 
in Germany while I was in Moscow, I was about to 
enclose a ten-pound note in my letter, when I was 
cautioned not to do so, as there is a law forbidding the 
transportation of any money into or out of the kingdom 
through the mails, and post-office officials have author- 
ity to open letters which they suspect and seize any 
money they may find therein, one-third going to the 
government and two-thirds to the official. All remit- 

o 

tances, therefore, to ensure safety, must be made by 
means of bankers' drafts. I presume this is to enable 
the government to keep track of funds received or ex- 
pended for plots or conspiracies, but that such regula- 
tion exists it is fortunate for the tourist to know, lest 
he unwittingly contribute to the funds of some govern- 
ment official in the post-office department. The only 
way to get foreign newspapers in Russia is to have them 
mailed to your consul or minister ; at the Russian post- 
offices they will be examined on arrival, and all ob- 
jectionable passages blacked out of them as before 
described. 

It is a ride of about five miles out to the Simonof 
Monastery, one of the richest and most important 
monastic institutions in the empire, and founded here 
about the year 1390. It is a large and beautiful extent 
of ground, enclosing dormitories, chapels, little houses 
with gay gardens, and other buildings, including no 
less than six churches within its walls. The central 

193 



194 THE SIMONOF MONASTEKY. 

church, surmounted by five great cupolas, has a sort 
of semi-Chinese or Saracenic aspect, and the old red 
walls, the huge monastic gate, and the beautiful 
avenue of trees gave a very picturesque aspect to the 
scene. 

This monastery, in olden times, was a regular feudal 
institution, owning numerous villages and enabled to 
call into the field a regular army of its own of over 
twelve thousand serfs about the year 1764. It lias had 
a notable history, having been conquered and sacked 
by invading Lithuanians and Poles in 1(312, made a 
plague hospital in 1771, suppressed in 1778, and re- 
stored in 1795, to be again partially destroyed in 1812. 

We drove into the enclosure, and, after some diffi- 
culty, our guide found a man in charge, but, it being 
just 12 o'clock, priests, monks, and all were asleep, and, 
like the Spaniards and Italians, had all retired for noon 
siesta and would not be awake and about for two or 
three hours. The ever and all-powerful roubles, how- 
ever, brought out a long-robed and bearded official 
from his slumbers, who showed us about the Church of 
the Assumption, and sleepily descanted upon the altar- 
screen, the great gilt cupola, and the two towers, one 
85 and the other 125 feet high. In the sacristy were 
the rich robes, heavy with gold embroidery — so heavy, 
indeed, that it would seem like doing penance to wear 
them any length of time. 

Here also were rich cups, huge gold tureens or ves- 
sels, and other ecclesiastical treasures, including the 
gospels bound in gold and ornamented with precious 
stones — which seems to have been a favorite present 
of monarchs to monasteries. This one was given by 
Mary, the daughter of Alexis. 

The chief object for which the monastery is visited, 



MONASTERY OF THE NEW REDEEMER. 195 

however, is to ascend the bell-tower, three hundred 
and thirty feet high, where, looking out through a trap- 
door in the very top of the cupola, you have a magnifi- 
cent panoramic view of Moscow and the surrounding 
country, and again realize what an important part the 
walled-in Kremlin, beautiful monastery grounds, the 
numerous parti-colored roofs and spires, gilded domes 
and glittering steeples, play in presenting a novel and 
thoroughly foreign, as well as picturesque, view to the 
eye of the American tourist. 

This monastery is on the edge of a steep rise of 
ground, and in quite an advantageous and command- 
ing position, and is approached by a narrow road be- 
tween its walls and the cliff -side ; its central gate, 
under the great bell-tower, is kept closed, and the circle 
of towers on the walls were of service in resisting some 
severe sieges years ago. 

On our way back we pass another great monastery, 
that of the New Redeemer, surrounded by high walls 
which enclose several churches within their limits. 
The monastery was plundered by Napoleon's soldiers, 
and its antique stone walls date back to 1642. The 
belfry, like that of the Simonof, is a striking object and 
rises to the height of 235 feet. Near here are the 
ruins of a beautiful arch or gate, said to be the entrance 
to a former archiepiscopal palace. 

But we soon leave the country behind, and, nearing 
the city, we ride along beside the river and in sight of 
a beautiful view of the Kremlin from that side, show- 
ing the battlemented walls, huge buildings, turreted 
towers, and glittering spires, all grouped above us in 
the sunlight, strikingly reminding one of Martin's 
picture of tier above tier of palaces that surrounded 
Satan as : — 



196 THE ROMANOFF HOUSE. 

"High on a throne of royal state, which far 
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind, 
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand 
Showers on her kings barbaric pearls and gold, 
Satan exalted sat." 

The Romanoff House, which all tourists are expected 
to visit as the former residence of the Romanoffs, the 
present royal family of Russia, is simply a restoration 
of the ancient building of 1613, in which the first 
Romanoff czar was born. The exterior walls are said 
to be the same, but the interior was restored and fitted 
up in 1858, in the style of a Russian gentleman's house 
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and as such 
the interior, with its massive and cumbersome fittings 
and appliances, is a curiosity and sort of ancient art- 
museum. 

The building is four stories in height, and the differ- 
ent rooms, readied by narrow stairways, are furnished 
in the antique Russian st}de. The great chamber has a 
sort of Gothic roof, richly decorated, and in this room 
were kept many curious and massive pieces of ancient 
furniture and plate ; some of the latter formerly belong- 
ing to the family is of massive silver richly wrought. 
A great German stove, with its colored tiles, was the 
heating apparatus of the apartment. Then there was 
the nursery, with its clumsy, great, heavy cradles and 
rude chairs for children of the period, their wooden 
dolls and primers, and in the bedchamber the ceiling 
and walls were all beautifully carved in wood, in various 
designs, and the old, heavy four-post bedstead and huge 
chairs, I presume, were Russian antique furniture, and 
in a glass case was a long robe and a pair of slippers, 
said to be those of the first czar and czarina of the 
Romanoffs. The whole is a collection of ancient 



"A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT TO SEE." 197 

domestic art, illustrative of the manner and customs 
of domestic life when the Romanoffs first came into 
power. 

The numerous curious relics that are presented 
relating to the former sovereigns of Russia — in fact, the 
many interesting objects connected with the past his- 
tory of the empire, of which the average American has 
so superficial a knowledge — cause him to realize his 
ignorance in that respect, and create a desire, as in 
my case, to go home and more thoroughly read up the 
history of Russia and its people. 

More than once did I meet tourists who, like myself, 
were making but a brief visit to the country, who ex- 
pressed their wonder and surprise at what (as an 
American of considerable experience as a tourist ex- 
pressed it) " a tremendous amount to see there was in 
St. Petersburg and Moscow." 

That there is much to interest the intelligent trav- 
eller may be gathered from these very sketchy descrip- 
tions of only the leading sights seen, and jotted down 
after a long day's work visiting them, and the traveller 
visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow for the first time 
will find that there is far more to see and more time 
required to do it than he imagined at the outset. 

Were it not for diary and note-book, how palaces, 
churches, and monasteries would become mixed up in 
one's memory, and, after having visited two or three 
churches, a certain general similarity seems to strike 
one, and, in the endeavor to give a pen-picture of one 
after another of these grand temples to the Most High 
in this distant land, the impression naturally forces 
itself into my mind that such description in Russia 
can in no degree be so interesting as that of an old 
English abbey, for instance, that has figured in history, 



198 THE ROYAL PALACE AT MOSCOW. 

romance, and story, till generation after generation had 
heard, dreamed, and imagined of it, and longed to look 
upon the crumbling walls or stand upon the ground 
where have been enacted the scenes sung of by poets,, 
illustrated by painters, or represented upon the stage. 

But rarely visited as Russia is by the rush of pleas- 
ure-seekers abroad, I have wondered that such as do 
go and who write about it do not give us a little more 
of the actual detail of description, which is of so much 
service to those who come after. This I have en- 
deavored to do, at the risk of being tedious, although 
mention of the contents of church after church and 
palace after palace becomes something like an inven- 
tory of possessions. 

The Royal Palace at Moscow is really quite a modern 
affair, being finished about thirty-five years ago. The 
interior is magnificent, the apartments being distin- 
guished for their beauty and grandeur. You first pass- 
through a grand entrance and vestibule supported by 
a series of beautiful monoliths of gray marble, and on 
through beautifully decorated corridors to what are 
known as the ro} T al apartments, which are a series of 
elegant and richly furnished rooms decorated with 
different-colored silk hangings. The empress' draw- 
ing-room is furnished in beautiful white silk and gold, 
her cabinet in a dark ruby-colored silk, and her bath- 
room is rich in elegant marble, with a superb malachite 
mantel-piece. 

Then there are the halls and antechambers, as usual 
in palaces, richly gilded and frescoed, but containing 
nothing of note till we entered one known as the Em- 
peror's Cabinet, in which were paintings of the entrance 
of the French into Moscow, and their retreat, also views 
of the battles of Borodino and Smolensk. The Rus- 



GRAND APARTMENTS. 199 

sians like to keep prominently in mind the defeat of 
the hitherto invincible chieftain who dared to invade 
their territory and despoil their holy city. A statuette 
in bronze of Napoleon stands in the middle of the room, 
as if to say, This is the man whose invading battalions 
were hurled back, beaten, and destroyed by Russian 
valor (and Russia's winter ). 

A glance at a room of regimental standards which 
belong to the different regiments of the Russian army, 
and we step out to the grand granite staircase that 
leads to the state apartments. Here, on the great cir- 
cular landing round the gallery at the head of the 
staircase, is a fine and spirited battle-piece, represent- 
ing a victory of the Russians over the Tartars. 

We passed from here into a splendid apartment, 200 
feet long, 68 wide, and about sixty feet in height, ele- 
gantly decorated. The military order of St. George 
was founded by Catherine II., in 1769, and the names 
of all the individuals and regiments that have ever 
been decorated with the order are inscribed upon the 
marble walls of this apartment, in golden letters, and 
number thousands. 

The grand columns of this hall are a delusion, being 
formed of zinc, but have a fine and imposing appear- 
ance. They are surmounted by figures bearing shields, 
upon which are inscriptions of Russian victories. The 
superb vases and candelabra are notable features of 
this room. The candelabra sustain about three thou- 
sand five hundred lights. The furniture and fittings 
of this grand hall are of the colors of the order of 
St. George, black and orange. 

Another magnificent hall in the palace is that known 
as the hall of St. Andrew, an order of knighthood that 
was founded by Peter I., in 1698. 



200 THE HALL OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKY. 

In this hall, which is 160 feet long by 68 wide, is a 
magnificent royal throne, and the whole is furnished and 
hung with blue silk, the color of this order of knight- 
hood ; it is also decorated with numerous coats-of- 
arms and knightly devices, which I supposed to be 
those of distinguished knights, but which turned out, 
on inquiry, to be the arms of different provinces of the 
empire. 

Still another grand hall, dedicated to another order 
of knighthood, is that of St. Alexander Nevsky, a 
hall 150 feet long and about seventy wide, lighted by 
four thousand five hundred candles. This order of 
knighthood was founded b} T that industrious sovereign, 
Catherine II., in 1725, and, its colors being pink, the 
room is gorgeous in pink and gold decorations. 

There are six great pictures here representing scenes 
in the life of the saint of the order. One is a spirited 
representation of a battle on the ice, another a marriage- 
scene, and a third a triumphal entry into some city ; 
these are the most f remarkable. 

After these grand apartments, that of St. Catherine, 
68 feet by 45, looks small, and, sated with sight-seeing 
of this description, you pass through the great state 
drawing-room with its rich furniture, the state bed- 
room, gorgeous with mosaic work and jasper mantel- 
piece, and then out through a prett}^ garden to other 
apartments, only one of which we looked into, a dining- 
room hung with tapestry representing scenes in the life 
of Don Quixote. 

There Avere other halls, of no special note, but we 
now entered an older part of the structure, known as 
the Granite Palace ; we were shown the celebrated 
" Red Staircase," a structure famous as being the scene 
of many noted events in Russian history. 



THE FAMOUS "RED STAIRCASE." 201 

From the top of this staircase the czars were wont to 
show themselves to the people, and here is the scene of 
one of the acts of that cruel tyrant, John the Terrible, 
who struck his sharp, iron-pointed staff into the foot of 
a messenger bringing him unfavorable news, and held 
him thus pinned to the floor while he read the de- 
spatches. From these steps rebels, pretenders to the 
crown, unpopular rulers, and others have been hurled 
upon the pikes of the soldiery below, or seized, dragged 
down, and cut to pieces, and up these steps the victo- 
rious Napoleon and his marshals mounted to take pos- 
session of the Kremlin. 

Next came the room where coronation banquets are 
served — an apartment with a huge column in the centre, 
from which spring vaulted arches. 

Here the emperor dines, with his nobles, after the 
ceremony of coronation. The great theatrical-looking 
chairs upon a dais at one end of the apartment mark 
the position of the emperor, who appears here in his 
royal robes, and none but crowned heads are allowed 
at his table, and no women admitted to the hall. A 
window opposite the throne, high up in the wall, marks 
the spot where a few ladies of high rank may have an 
opportunity of looking in upon the royal banquet. 
The imperial plate used at these banquets is preserved 
here in glass cases, and forms a perfect museum of ele- 
gant design and workmanship, ancient and modern, of 
the silver-smith's art. 

It seems here in Moscow that they have something 
everywhere to show you to recall the name of Napoleon 
and his invasion. Here is pointed out the point of his 
entrance into the city; there the point of departure; 
here are his camp-bedsteads, and there the church which 
he plundered and stabled horses in ; here are shown 



202 MEMENTOS AND TEOPHrES. 

captured standards, the celebrated French eagles, and 
there is evident pride in the disaster to the invading 
force, which is ascribed to the invincible character of 
the Russian soldiers, and little or no credit is given to 
the Russian winter, which had so much to do with the 
annihilation of the retreating host that went down by 
thousands before the whirling snow-wreaths. 

The cannon that were taken from the retiring enemy 
are pointed to proudly as trophies, many of which were 
doubtless captured in the fierce charges of the Cossacks 
upon the thinned and exhausted rear-guard as they pain- 
fully urged their way back over barren wastes, chilled 
and exhausted with the fierce blasts of winter that had 
overtaken them, and others by scores were, as we know, 
abandoned for lack of horses to drag or men to man 
them. 

The tactics of the Russian generals, after the battle 
of Borodino and subsequent advance of Napoleon, 
proved most successful, and, instead of entering a 
populated city and dictating terms to the Russian 
people, who should humbly come to him suing for 
peace, and proffering an indemnity, the invader found, 
to his mortification, that the population had fled. None 
remained save convicts, whom the Russians had liber- 
ated from the prisons, and some of the most miserable 
of the lowest class, who were unable to leave. 

The holy city was given up to be sacrificed for the 
benefit of the empire. Negotiations were refused, 
propositions for treaty and armistice disregarded by 
the Russian generals, and, after a month's stay, the in- 
vading army — 150,000 men, 50,000 horses, and 500 
pieces of cannon — started on its return, stretching 
away from burning Moscow in three great columns 
over the open country, followed by forty thousand 



NIJNI NOVGOROD FAIR. 203 

stragglers and a huge train of wagons bearing cap- 
tured booty. When this mighty host started, then the 
Muscovite commanders grimly announced that their 
•campaign had just begun. How disastrous it was to 
the French emperor, the history of the retreat from 
Moscow attests. 

The travellers' stories about the fair of Nijni Nov- 
gorod, until quite recently, have given one to under- 
stand that the place during the fair was a regular 
congress of nations. Imagination revelled from these 
descriptions, picturing trains of camels bearing their 
spicy loads from the East ; turbaned Turks seated upon 
rich carpets, puffing chibouks or the fragrant hubble- 
bubble, with embroidered slippers and rich stuffs for 
sale ; Arabs of the desert ; crowds of pig-tailed Chinese, 
with their tea-chests ; tall, sedate Persians, or curious 
Kalmucks, Copts, Tartars, and Greeks mixed all together 
in a kaleidoscopic and picturesque confusion, engaged 
in bartering the richest products of their respective 
countries. 

Perhaps in the old times of the fair, when men 
"brought their merchandise on camels and by caravan 
trains (for it dates back to 1366), this may have been 
to a certain degree correct ; but modern improvements 
and the railroad line to Moscow, which puts the fair in 
direct communication with the other lines of railway and 
with all parts of Europe, have wrought a vast change. 

The distance from Moscow to Nijni, which is said to 
be the centre of European Russia, is 273 miles, and the 
price in a first-class railway carriage is fifteen roubles, 
and we were told that the journey would be accom- 
plished in thirteen hours, but we were really fourteen 
hours and a half accomplishing it. The train left at 8 
at night and we arrived at 10 : 30 next morning. 



204 THE WAY TO " DO " NIJNI. 

The sleeping-cars on this route are not so comfort- 
able as those between St. Petersburg and Moscow. 
The contrivance for sleeping consists in the pulling- 
out of a slide from beneath the seat to meet one from 
the opposite seat. Then, with the cushions for a couch, 
and your wraps, you make yourself tolerably comfort- 
able for the night. 

As we found that the car-compartments held five, 
and there being but three in our part}^, we found it 
contributed to our comfort to have the conductor or 
guard interviewed previous to starting from Moscow, 
which insured us the compartment exclusively for our 
own use and free from any intrusion during the jour- 
ney. A very good breakfast of chops, eggs, coffee, and 
excellent French rolls was had at the Nijni station, 
costing about a rouble and a half (seventy-five cents) 
each, and we were ready for the drosky, with its 
impatient steeds and long-robed driver, that was await- 
ing us. 

The best way to proceed in sight-seeing at Nijni is 
to breakfast, as we did, at the railway station imme- 
diately on arrival, after which to engage a good two- 
horse carriage and driver for the day, and proceed at 
once with your guide to the fair-grounds and points, 
of interest. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Nijni Novgorod (Lower Novgorod) is so called to 
distinguish it from Novgorod the Great, an old and 
celebrated city in Russia, said to be the cradle of the 
Russian empire, and which once covered an area of 
forty miles, and was a place of immense wealth. But 
it is Nijni Novgorod that the traveller has heard most 
of and desires to see. 

Nijni is an older town than Moscow, and from its 
peculiar position admirably adapted for a distributing- 
point or sort of grand depot for the merchandise of 
Central Asia, the East, and the vast region of Siberia, 
which is to be sent from here to the West, and vice versa. 
It is, in fact, a sort of connecting commercial link be- 
tween the continents of Europe and Asia, a rendezvous 
of the merchants of both continents. The town is 
spread over a large amount of territory, but has, I am 
told, but fifty thousand inhabitants. It is situated at 
the junction of the Volga and Oka rivers, and the fair 
is held upon a great tract of land immediately between 
these two streams. 

These two rivers are among the largest in Russia, the 
Volga having a course of over twenty-three hundred 
miles. The Oka is a tributary of eight hundred and 
fifty miles, and flows into the Volga. Nijni occupies a 
geographical point peculiarly favorable for a commercial 
port, being at the centre of the water-communication 
that joins the Black and Caspian seas with the White 

205 



206 SCENES IN NIJNI. 

and Baltic seas, a grand water-highway during the sum- 
mer season. 

The pavements in Nijni are as abominable as they 
well can be, and our ride through the town, on our 
way to the fair, gave us a view of quite a miscellaneous 
character. We passed all manner of cheap shops and 
bazaars, strings of wretchedly made wagons loaded 
with all kinds of merchandise, swarms of filthy, ragged 
laborers, mostly Tartars, besides filthy, sheepskin-clad 
Russians, great warehouses, cheap restaurants, and 
swarms of droskies. No well dressed people were seen 
in the streets, and rarely any women except Tartars, 
whom y ou detect by their features or their long yellow 
boots as they raise their dresses to cross the dusty 
or muddy streets, blind beggars, and others that are not 
blind. 

A Russian beggar, by the bye, is a most repulsive 
object, clad in a perfect mass of rags or sheepskins, that 
cause you to wonder how they hold together, his legs 
and feet bound with rags and straw covering, his 
repulsive, corrugated, unwashed face almost hidden in 
a mass of matted, unkempt hair of head and beard ; 
he holds out a hand crusted with the dirt of }*ears, and 
begs a trifle in the name of the saints. But he is an 
object in every way so repugnant that he generally gets 
a wide berth from European or American visitors. 

The Russian religious pilgrim is another disgusting 
object. Clad in sheepskins and rags, that are dust-cov- 
ered and filthy from his long journey from the interior, 
on his way to some noted shrine or church, to fulfil 
some vow made to saints or to perform some penance, 
he trudges on with his feet protected by swathing of 
soft bark and rags, and a wallet hanging about his neck 
containing scraps of food that he has begged. He 



THE GREAT FAIR. 207 

exudes an odor of sanctity that could well be dispensed 
with. When he elbows his way into the crowded 
cathedral to perform his devotions, other worshippers 
give way to him with promptitude. 

Our drive carried us along the river-bank for some 
little distance, when we descended, crossed a bridge, and 
were at once in the limits of the fair. That portion to 
which you are first taken gives you the impression of 
anything but the popular idea of a fair. It appears 
like a collection of vast quantities of merchandise in 
bulk, so vast that you wonder how it ever could have 
got there, and how it ever will be taken away. But 
go up, as you will, on the high land or terrace above, 
and look down upon the River Volga, stretching away in 
the distance till it becomes a mere steel-like ribbon in 
the sunlight, and the Oka on the other side, and you will 
get some idea of the enormous commerce of the empire. 

More than a hundred and fifty great freight-steamers 
were moored at the banks or gliding to and fro ; huge 
bateaux, piled with bales, casks, boxes, and hogsheads 
of merchandise, were being propelled by steam-tugs 
from point to point; the rivers were black with heavily 
laden craft, of every description, as far as the eye 
could reach. There were ten miles of wharf on the 
two rivers, and they and the great plain occupied by 
the fair were piled with every kind of merchandise. 

The iron-market was the first portion of the fair we 
drove through — a space of flat, dusty plain, with the 
heavy merchandise displayed on either side of the road 
that ran through it. There were great heaps of Rus- 
sian sheet-iron, and Tartar laborers loading it upon 
teams, the perspiration running in streams down their 
faces and half-naked bodies ; then huge heaps of bar- 
iron, of every kind I had ever seen, and much that I 



208 THE IRON MARKET. 

had never seen ; pig-iron, iron in bundles, iron in ingots, 
a great lot of every kind of iron anchors. 

It was iron on every side of us — the ringing of bars 
as they were loaded into the vehicles, the crash of sheet- 
iron piled in great heaps, like huge lots of iron manu- 
scripts, and the thud of the pig-iron being tossed into 
clumsy carts, were the features of this place. We saw 
heaps of the celebrated Russian iron, the secret of the 
manufacture of which has long been confined to 
Russia. 

This secret, however, has been recently discovered, 
and by an American, who obtained it, of course, sur- 
reptitiously, and at great personal risk. The name of 
the adventurous individual is Mr. William Rogers, of 
Pennsylvania, who, about eighteen years ago, was sent 
out, as state geologist, to Russia, and bearing creden- 
tials to the minister at St. Petersburg. 

As long as he confined his explorations to the mines, 
he attracted little or no suspicion ; but as soon as he 
set his foot inside the iron-mills of Princess Demidoff, 
he was subjected to the most vigilant espionage. It 
must be remembered that the men in the mills who 
know the secret of making Russian iron are never 
allowed to. quit the mills. With the special study he 
had made of iron-making before going to Russia, he 
was not long in discovering the much-coveted secret, 
though he had much trouble to evade suspicion. Had 
he been detected, he might have been forced to remain 
in Siberia the rest of his life ; but he was not. 

And now a mill is in process of construction at 
Freeport, a little town about thirty miles north of 
Pittsburg, Pa., for the manufacture of this iron ; and it 
will be the first Russian-iron mill built outside of Sibe- 
ria. An imitation of Russian iron has been made in 



THE BELL AND TEA QUARTERS. 209 

this country for some time, but it is not proof against 
rust. Imperviousness to rust is the test of genuine 
Russian iron. 

Leaving the iron quarter and its throngs of perspir- 
ing laborers, we drove into another division of the 
plain. Here the scene changed, and we were in the 
midst of bells of every description, from the small one 
that would have sounded musical in a school-house bel- 
fry, to the huge, deep-toned giant that would have 
fitted the tower of St. Isaac's or St. Peter's. 

Next we were whirled into a space where were 
mountains of bales of wool and cotton, on either side. 
Here and there were rude shanties, bearing signs that 
told they were the counting-houses or headquarters 
of merchants of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, or 
other Russian cities, and in which, during the day, 
were to be found their representatives, who remain 
here during the fair to look after their interests. Then 
from a broad, plain-like space of ground, as we ap- 
proached it, came that fragrant perfume that told of 
the great tea-quarter of the fair, and we rode through 
vast squares, formed of thousands and thousands of 
tea-chests. Did we see Chinamen here ? Not one. 

In this quarter different cargoes, or, maybe, different 
varieties, of tea are piled, forming great hollow squares, 
with one side open towards the roadway. Within, 
seated upon a rude bench, with a great wooden tub 
before them, were two men, dressed in the Russian 
merchant-costumes. One held a large book, in which 
entries were made of the result of the inspection of the 
other of the tea which passed before them. 

This was done something in this fashion. Two labor- 
ers brought the chest to a broad piece of cloth, that 
was spread before the inspectors, and set it down ; 



210 TEA-SAMPLERS AT WORK. 

another pierced the chest with a single blow of his longv 
sharp tea-sampler or trier, drawing it forth filled with 
the fragrant herb, and presented it to one of the 
inspectors, who passed it rapidly beneath his nostrils,, 
and, with a deep inhalation, gave it a critical glance. 
Then he spoke a word to the man with the book, who 
checked it off, and indicated to two other laborers to 
pile it right, left, or centre, where that of its quality 
was deposited. A man with a cork or bung immediately 
stopped the sample-hole, and the chest was seized and 
carried to its proper position. The samples drawn 
were thrown into the receptacle in front of the in- 
spectors. 

In another square were men sampling and evidently 
bargaining for purchases ; in a third, load after load 
was being carried away. The whole atmosphere was 
redolent of tea and that peculiar sort of indescribable 
sandal-wood scent that one notices on entering a 
Chinese tea and curiosity shop. 

All the chests have either coverings of matting or 
hides to protect them. The laborers here are princi- 
pally Tartars. They live any way, camp out during 
the season in the rudest of huts made of a few boards 
and old tea-mattings; curl themselves up at night on 
a few old tea-mattings and a heap of dried grass and 
sleep on the ground. The town, where cheap tea, 
vodki, and beer can be had, is but a short distance 
from the place, and they frequent it at night or when 
not at work, and lead a sort of Bohemian life during 
the season. The agents of the tea-merchants also live 
in this quarter. They have little cabins, about twenty 
feet square, built of boards, covered with tea-matting ; 
inside, the floor is covered with the same matting, and 
at the side were two bunks for the sleepers. A rude 



BOKHARAN MERCHANDISE. 211 

table, a couple of chairs, and other articles such as we 
are accustomed to see in a hunter's camp, completed 
the outfit. 

Tea appears to be one of the most important articles 
of merchandise at Nijni, and of the finer qualities 
about sixteen millions of pounds are brought to Russia 
annually. Throughout Russia and Central Asia, tea 
seems to be as a beverage to the natives what beer is 
to the Germans. 

It is drunk at the fair by all nationalities, even the 
Moslems ; the poorer classes of Tartars and laborers 
contenting themselves with the cheap brick-tea, so 
called from its being moistened and pressed into that 
form for convenience of transportation. The Russians 
say the English do not drink the best tea, because they 
will not pay for the best grades. 

Bokhara sends merchandise by camel-train, as of old, 
to this fair ; some of the trains coming a thousand 
miles, and starting in the spring on a six-weeks jour- 
ney to reach it. These caravans bring cotton, silk, 
and that black, curly, and glossy fur, real black astra- 
khan, the skin of a jet-black curly lamb ; also rice, 
wheat, and barley, woven fabrics, and dried fruits. 

Merchandise of a very different character was that 
in the horse department, where were draught and 
other horses, chiefly for laboring purposes, but in great 
variety, in their different sheds, or being run up and 
down before them in view of probable purchasers. 
Here there were clouds of dust, a clatter of hoofs, a 
shouting of grooms, and a neighing of steeds. Count 
Orloff, who presented the famous diamond, the largest 
in Europe, to the Empress Catherine II., was much 
interested and did much towards improving the breed 
of Russian horses ; hence, most horses of good blood 



212 THE HORSE-FAIR — RUSSIAN HORSES. 

in Russia are styled Orloff horses. The type of horse 
most frequently seen in St. Petersburg and Moscow 
is solidly built, has a large head and neck, large legs, 
and is far less graceful in action than the steeds one 
sees in England and America. The prevailing color 
is black. The best carriage-horses seemed to be 
stallions ; they look stylish, trot fast, and appear to 
be quiet and docile. They certainly are splendid 
animals for use in sight-seeing about St. Petersburg, 
Moscow, and the suburbs, for they keep going from 
morning till night upon a fast trot, from point to 
point, and will conclude, as in our experience, with a 
journe} 7 out seven miles from the city and return with- 
out a s} T mptom of fatigue or exertion. 

In Russia, as in America, much more interest is 
taken in trotting than in running races. I am unable 
to say how the speed of Russian trotters compares 
with American fast horses, but the Russian racer looks 
too heavy in build to accomplish a mile in the time 
that it has been done by our clean-limbed coursers. 
The carriage used in trotting races in Russia is a 
singular-looking affair. It consists of four wheels 
of about the size of those of an American buggy, and 
from one axle to the other is a board, thickly padded 
and covered with leather ; this board forms the seat 
for the driver, and, as his feet swing without support, 
the sensation must be similar to that experienced in 
riding upon a rail. Russian horses have frequently 
been taken to Paris to compete with trotting horses 
from Normandy on the race-track laid out in the Bois 
de Boulogne just outside of the running race-track, but 
the trial has ended in the triumph of the Normans 
over their Russian competitors. It is a curious fact 
that Russians, notorious for fast driving, have no bells 



"TURKISH" AND " PERSIAN " FABRICS. 213 

on their horses in winter. Accidents frequently occur 
from this cause. 

From the horse-marts we passed on again and found 
ourselves in a section more like a regular fair. It was 
a collection of nuts, dates, dried fruits, and everything 
of that sort, in huge heaps, with broad display of 
samples, that might be purchased at retail of tall semi- 
Turkish-costumed individuals. 

There were almonds, dates, figs, Rahat Lakoum 
(fig-paste), Turkish sweetmeats, etc., nor were these 
all eastern goods, for there were bags of Castanea nuts, 
heaps of " English walnuts," pecan-nuts, raisins and 
other dried fruits. From here stretched out a long 
string of shops, a sort of cheap bazaar, where were 
various silks, dry-goods, etc., but such as were no 
novelty, and could be seen in greater variety and to 
greater advantage in London and Paris, and some of 
the Eastern fabrics, as well as the furs in the furrier sec- 
tion, could be bought cheaper, and with a greater cer- 
tainty of one's not being cheated, in London than here. 

In the section devoted to Persian goods were mag- 
nificent rugs and carpets, which two obliging dark- 
skinned attendants brought forth and spread upon a 
plot of hardened earth in front of their booths, in 
which were heaped huge piles of goods of gorgeous 
dyes. I coveted one, rich,, antique, soft as dressed 
chamois-skin, with the hues blending as beautifully as 
the tints of an oil-painting, which the Persian, Ar- 
menian, or Greek — I thought him the latter, from his 
fez, baggy trousers, and red slippers — assured me in 
French was " bon marche veritable," direct from a 
Turkish person of distinction, etc. 

The problem of getting the article through various 
custom-houses to the United States, and the difficulty 



214 SUPPLIES FOR A VAST "ARMY." 

of knowing whether you are being cheated or not t 
stands in the way of European and American tourists 
here. 

Our guide informed us that Turkish rugs for this 
fair were manufactured in France, as well as Turkish 
pipes, dress-stuffs, and even Circassian chain-armor, 
helmets, and shields; besides, Persian articles that have 
never seen that country, made in France and Belgium, 
are sold here every year, and one must have his wits 
about him in making purchases, both as to price and 
genuineness of the articles offered. 

It would be too tiresome and prosy to the reader to 
describe great collections of grindstones from the Ural 
Mountains, huge casks of fish and barrels of herring 
from Astrakhan, enormous quantities of petroleum, piles 
of hides, huge heaps of cotton from Bokhara, and one 
section that glittered with all kinds of copper vessels, 
including a large collection of the celebrated samovars 
or Russian tea-urns ; great piles of lumber, granaries 
full of corn, and huge heaps of bags of salt from the 
eastern steppes. From one quarter to another, and it 
seems like visiting vast magazines of merchandise 
that have been gathered for the subsistence of a great 
army, and so indeed it is, — the vast army of con- 
sumers to whom it is to be distributed, — and this 
great space, now so crowded witli masses of merchan- 
dise, would be left in a few weeks a comparatively 
barren waste and dusty plain. 

There is what is known as the Chinese quarter, 
easily recognized from the peculiar architecture of the 
shops, but there were no Chinese there, most of the 
booths being closed, although the other portions of 
the fair at the time of our visit (last of August) were 
in full operation. 



IN THE TURKISH QUARTER. 215 

Pushing our investigations onward, we began to 
meet Turks, — veritable Turks, turbaned Turks in 
long robes and colored slippers, — and it really seemed 
that we were to see the Nijni Novgorod of imagination 
in reality when we came to a row of cheap wooden 
shanties, in front of which, with goods displayed, sat 
two or three Mussulmans in bright-colored robes and 
white turbans, and we witnessed the introduction of 
one " true believer " to another in true oriental style, 
all three looking as if they had just stepped out of a 
story of the " Thousand and One Nights." The pro- 
found salaams given and returned, the good-wishes 
and various compliments passed, interspersed with 
other salaams, until the invitation to enter was given, 
and all three gravely retired to the usual pipes and 
coffee. 

We found we were in a veritable Turkish quarter, 
for, on turning a corner, there stood, in an enclosed 
patch of ground, a Turkish mosque. It was sur- 
rounded by a dilapidated fence, but intruders were 
kept at a distance by officials with clubs at the en- 
trances, who allowed none but Mussulmans to enter. 

Of course, we were anxious to gain entrance. If you 
wish to excite an intense desire on the part of the public 
to inspect premises that you desire to keep free from 
intrusion, write up " No Admittance " over the door. 

It appears that it was some sort of a Mohammedan 
festival or holyday, and all of the faithful were in their 
national costume on the occasion. 

Our guide, to whom we communicated our desire to 
see the inside of a mosque, shook his head, and doubted 
our getting further than the door. The outside guar- 
dians were easily corrupted, and we Frenghis or 
Giaours, or whatever the word was the " true be- 



216 GIAOURS IN THE MOSQUE. 

lievers " of the Arabian Nights stories used to desig- 
nate " the infidel," stood within the enclosure, watching 
an outcoming of Mussulmans from the sacred mosque, 
at the door of which was stationed another guardian. 
To him proceeded our guide, and anon he was convers- 
ing with the mollah, who came forward, a tall, grave- 
looking Turk, with beautiful silk-embroidered pelisse, 
green slippers, high turban, and flowing beard, an 
ideal Haroun al Raschid, who, as our guide bowed 
profoundly and pressed his palm, returned a grave 
salutation, and, with a courteous wave of the hand, 
caused the guard at the portal to fall back, and invited 
us to enter and ascend to the place of worship. 

A score or more of slippers were at the foot of the 
little staircase. We were not required to remove our 
shoes, but, on removing our hats, were politely told it 
was not required in God's house to uncover the head. 
The little staircase of ten or twelve steps brought us 
to a broad landing, from which opened a wide door 
into an unfurnished circular room, the floor covered 
witli a green carpet. One large window fronted to- 
wards the east — the direction of Mecca, the holy city. 

The worshippers simply spread their little rugs or 
mats, knelt facing this great window, with arms crossed 
upon their breasts, or prostrated themselves, with their 
foreheads touching the floor, reciting their prayers as 
they did so. 

This was the only service or religious ceremony we 
saw, and this from outside the door, for no infidel foot 
could penetrate further. A sturdy official, with stout 
staff and sour expression of countenance, stood guard- 
ing the portal. 

We owed the privilege of penetrating thus far, and 
the few moments at the portal, rarely vouchsafed, to 



BESIEGED BY BEGGARS. 217 

the persuasive eloquence of our guide and the confi- 
dential contribution of a few roubles "for the good of 
the church." Upon our exit we were again reminded 
of our old friend, the " Thousand and One Nights," by 
a swarm of Turkish beggars. One man who displayed 
terrible sores, and another a deformed limb, a third 
who hobbled upon two stumps close off at the hips, and 
the frightful dwarf but a few feet high, with big head 
and harsh voice, alj. beset us with clamors for alms. 

Our guide, who was the only one of the party wear- 
ing a tall, glossy hat, was taken for the milord, while 
our more modest travelliug-caps gave us a lower social 
position in their eyes, for he was at once surrounded 
by this motley group, who inferred, from his buying 
admittance into the sacred edifice and the courtesy 
shown by the mollah, that he must have plenty of 
money to scatter, and it was with difficulty we forced 
our way through the noisy crowd to the gate and 
outside. Here the word had evidently been passed, 
and a crowd of Russian and Tartar beggars, a howling 
mob, surrounded us with shrill cries, and we had to 
run for it and seek shelter in one of the neighboring 
bazaars, through which we escaped to the point where 
our carriage was waiting. 

The principal portion of the plain on which the fair 
is held is overflowed in the spring and under water. 
During the progress of the fair, every precaution is 
taken against fire, which has previously done much 
damage, owing to the combustible nature of the cheap 
buildings. The whole fair-grounds are now surrounded 
by a canal filled with water, and large sewers pass 
beneath them, which are kept free and clear by water 
from the river. No smoking is permitted within the 
fair limits. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The fair has its cheap quarter, where goods of coarse 
and cheap description are sold to the crowds of work- 
people who are here during the season, and one section 
in particular, which seemed devoted to the sale of cast- 
off rags and worn-out articles of all nations. It was a 
sort of rag or rag-and-dust-bin fair of itself, the arti- 
cles being mainly displayed in little heaps on the 
ground over the area occupied. Here it seemed as if 
the dust-bins, dirt-barrels, and rag-bags of the world 
had been emptied. It is rivalled only by the rag-fair 
in the streets around and in the vicinity of St. Pat- 
rick's Cathedral in Dublin. 

Old men were squatted beside a heap of boots and 
shoes that were mated and mismated, of all sorts and 
sizes ; others presided over what appeared to be a 
miscellaneous rag-heap, but which proved to be por- 
tions and parts of costumes — there was the waist of 
what was once a gay dress, an old crashed bonnet, 
a buttonless coat slit up the middle of the back, a 
red and black stocking tied together as a pair, and an 
old cape with half the cheap fur trimming torn off, the 
collection looking as if it had been the aim of its pro- 
prietor to obtain as imperfect and damaged an assort- 
ment as possible. Another dealer had rusty hinges, 
nails, door-handles, bolts, and a few worn-out metal 
tools. 

Some had extemporized a counter with two casks 
and a board, and spread out old cheap dishes and culi- 
nary articles; others had built the rudest kind of huts, 

218 



RES DERELICTS AND RUBBISH. 219 

where they sold rosaries, holy images, candles, etc., of 
the cheapest description ; another had nothing but old 
bits of curious stone, marble, jasper, and mineralogical 
specimens, and in his heap of dusty pebbles our guide 
had the good-fortune to discover a bit of ribbon jasper, 
a beautiful specimen, which he bought for ten copecks, 
and affirmed to be worth five roubles in Petersburg. 

The place was noisy with the vociferations of both 
buyers and sellers over their transactions, which varied 
in amount from two to ten cents, and the miscellane- 
ous character of the crowd rendered the place such a 
one as we did not care to remain in long. 

There was still another feature of the fair which is 
like the old-time fair, and where the common people, 
the porters, laborers, workers, and thousand and one 
hangers-on, amuse themselves evenings, or when not at 
work. Here were two or three large buildings or 
hotels, frequented by the cattle drovers, the boatmen, 
stevedores, etc., and in which prostitutes openly carried 
on their vocation, engaging their rooms there for the 
season and sauntering around the rude piazzas or seated 
there enjoying mugs of tea with their male companions. 
Scattered all about were cheap dance-houses, raree- 
shows, penny theatres, dwarfs and giants, drinking- 
booths and wild-beast exhibitions ; and at one point a 
Russian Punch and Judy show was in progress, sur- 
rounded by an admiring crowd. 

Desirous of seeing something of this phase of life, 
we entered one of the most pretentious amusement- 
places, where the price of admission was five copecks. 
In the centre of a rough hall was one of those round- 
about machines of hobby-horse-headed cars, such as 
children ride round and round in a circle in at fairs ; it 
was turned by a man at a crank. In tins were Russian 



220 AMUSEMENTS IX NIJNI NOVGOROD. 

and Tartar male and female peasants riding round and 
round, while at the tables, each side of the room, were 
other dirty specimens of each race, eating bowls of 
cheap cabbage-soup, drinking beer or the inevitable tea. 
A band of what appeared to be Calabrian minstrels, 
from their costume, mounted a little platform to play 
their instruments, composed of two rude bagpipes of 
rough skin, two straight wooden clarinet-looking pipes, 
and a brass horn. The combination was terrific, and a 
test of one's endurance amid the clouds of tobacco- 
smoke, the close atmosphere of the place, mingled 
with the creaking of the merry-go-round machine and 
the laughter of its occupants. But when this band 
ceased and a native Russian band, clad in sheepskins, 
and with various indescribable instruments, struck up, 
it seemed 

" As all the fiends from heaven that fell 
Had pealed their banner cry of hell." 

and we incontinently fled from the odor of cabbage- 
soup, tobacco, and mistiness to the outer air. 

Another experience in this quarter was more amus- 
ing. Terrible pictures of black savages, seated in a 
circle, devouring white human beings, decorated a sort 
of side-show-looking booth. These works of art rep- 
resented one hungry individual gnawing away at a 
human leg as if it were an ear of corn, and another 
engaged upon a dissevered arm in the same manner, 
while a third was striking down a victim, to replenish 
a huge pot boiling over a big fire. Inscriptions in 
Russian beneath, according to our guide's translation, 
told that this was an exhibition of man-eaters, or can- 
nibals, but our curiosity was at once aroused by an 
inscription in English, and in good Roman characters, 



STARTLING A SAVAGE. 221 

beneath one of the pictures, describing them as kC Man- 
eating Savages," and we paid our copecks and entered. 

At one end of the tent sat three Australians, or 
South Sea Islanders, a man, woman, and child, under- 
sized specimens of humanity, and, although the man 
was got up with ferociously frizzed head, tattooed and 
painted face, a skewer through his nose, big ear-rings 
in his ears, and his body naked except a gay-colored 
cloth around the loins, he did not appear to be a very 
formidable antagonist. 

He began to walk up and down a little railed enclos- 
ure, flourishing a boomerang, and squalling some sort 
of gibberish, which we supposed to be " cannibal lan- 
guage," and we began commenting in our own tongue 
upon him, when, at the first interchange of sentences, 
the attention of the other two was immediately at- 
tracted, and the countenance of the little warrior, who 
was near us, underwent a surprising change ; his as- 
sumed fierceness gave way to a look of surprise, he 
dropped his boomerang, ran to a curtain at one end of 
the tent, raised it, and said something to some one 
within, and, then returning to where we stood, with a 
lot of cards in his hand, said : — 

" Would you like to buy my photograph ? " 

He gave a shrill laugh at our start of surprise at this 
civilized speech from a supposed cannibal, and, coming 
from behind the curtain at that moment, the proprietor 
of the show addressed us in our own language, asking 
us if we were not Americans. 

We replied in the affirmative. 

" So am I," said he. " My name is Cunningham, and 
this is what they make of it in this country," and he 
pointed to a name in Russian characters on one of his 
handbills, that was an undecipherable word nearly a foot 



222 FATE OF A CANNIBAL TROUPE. 

long. " I never knew I had such a bad name, till I 
saw it printed in this detestable place." 

" How do you find business here ? " 

"Business? good for nothing, sir. Just think of 
running a show like this for five cents admission, and a 
confounded Punch and Judy outside taking away half 
your audience. Don't pay, sir ! don't pay ! " 

It seemed that this exhibitor, according to his ac- 
count, had travelled all over America with Barnum, 
exhibiting the troupe of "Indian cannibals," originally 
nine in number, but now reduced by death to these 
three — the young fellow who spoke English, the little 
boy, and the woman. He had left Barnum some time 
since, travelled in Europe on his own account, had a 
curiosity to see Russia, had seen enough of it, and was 
now going back to Australia, where he had business, 
and would " take these poor niggers home," if he 
" could get them there alive." 

" But what killed the others ? Change of climate, we 
suppose ? " 

" Change of climate ! No, they were killed with 
kindness." 

" Kindness ! " 

"Yes, women who came to the show would feed 'em 
with sweet cakes and fruit, and they would devour 
everything given to them, like monkeys, and men 
thought it sport to smuggle liquor into the tent and 
give it to them when they got so used to their situation 
as to walk about a little from the platform and cage 
we kept them in. Their constitutions are not strong, 
and the most rigorous care has to be used to preserve 
their lives, owing to their ignorance in care of them- 
selves, and their eating anything and everything that 
is offered them." 



RUSSIAN TEAS — THE SAMOVAR. 223 

Our interview ended with a proffer of free admission 
for the remainder of the season — a space of three or 
four days — from the exhibitor, and a gift by us of 
a few copecks to 'the cannibals, who responded with a 
"dank you, sar," as we took our leave. 

The tea we found everywhere in Russia to be equal 
to all that has been said of it. Never have 1 drunk 
any of such exquisite flavor ; and even at the ordinary 
restaurants it far exceeds any that we usually have in 
England or America. Various reasons are given for 
this. One is that caravan tea, brought overland — 
a long journey of eight or ten months — in its loose, 
clumsy bundles, is so shaken up as to get rid of its 
tannin and all dirt and foreign substances, while that 
that is sent in closely packed boxes by sea does not. 
Perhaps there may be a good deal in the way the Rus- 
sians prepare their tea ; nevertheless, there are some 
choice varieties which cost from six to eight dollars a 
pound there. Nearly a tenth of all the tea sold here, 
I am told, is grown in northern China, and is brought 
overland from Kiakhta, a city quite near the border-line 
of China and Asiatic Russia. 

The Russian samovar, of which all travellers speak, 
is simply a copper urn having a pipe running through 
it. In this pipe lighted charcoal is placed, which keeps 
the water hot. At the restaurants this hot water was 
drawn upon a small quantity of strong solution of tea, 
in tumblers, that appeared to have been previously 
prepared, filling the glass to the brim, and then a thin 
slice of lemon was added. They assert that the yellow 
tea — as it is called here, on account of its pale color 
— is seldom exported from Asia or Russia. It is quite 
•delicate in flavor, and steeps strong. 

They have curious stories of the tea-poisoning of the 



224 TEA-POISONING — A VODKI-SHOP. 

Russian tea-merchants, which are only another version 
of the effects of continued testing on tea-samples that 
we have previously read. Indeed, I could but wonder 
at the power of olfactories and lungs of those I saw in 
Nijni, who must have inhaled no small quantity of the 
insidious dust and impalpable powder of the herb as 
they took deep inhalations of handful after handful from 
the samples brought to them from hundreds of chests. 

The Russian tea-merchants, when present on the 
Chinese frontier for buying tea, are, it is said, obliged 
to taste from a hundred and fifty to two hundred speci- 
mens of strong tea-infusions daily, do not swallow the 
infusion, but, nevertheless, a slow intoxication appears 
in them. The symptoms are loss of appetite, consti- 
pation, which alternates with diarrhoea, a failure of gen- 
eral nutrition, periodical epigastric pains, and dryness 
and sallowness of the skin ; hypochondriacal frame of 
mind, marked failure of memory, and also weakness 
of visual vacuity, sometimes diplopia, and of taste and 
smell. With this in prospect, who would desire to be 
a tea-merchant ! 

The vodki-shops are not very attractive-looking 
tippling-places. The furniture of one we looked into 
consisted of a rude table, in one corner, near which sat 
the proprietor, and on which were two or three earthen 
and tin drinking-cups. A couple of demijohns or cov- 
ered jars of the potent fluid stood near him. Two of 
his customers were snoring profoundly, in a corner, on 
an old bit of straw-matting, and three others were 
seated on a rough board-seat near the door, in various 
stages of intoxication. Beyond two or three clumsy 
stools, the colored picture of a saint, stuck up on the 
wall, and an old soup-tub, there was absolutely no other 
furniture in the place. 



THE EXCHANGE. 225 

The object of the Russian peasant, when ne enters 
one of these places, seems to be to get drunk as 
speedily as possible. He therefore drinks cup after 
cup of liquor, till he falls into a drunken stupor, 
and is either bundled out of the place" or stowed away 
in a corner, as were the two we saw, to sleep off his 
potations. 

A view of this great fair at its height, and of the 
enormous quantity of huge freight-steamers, boats, and 
river-craft that blacken the Volga and Oka, gives one 
some idea of the vast resources, the enormous wealth, 
and the commerce of this great empire and its ninety 
millions of inhabitants. The fair is officially opened 
the 27th of July, and lasts till about the 1st of 
September. At the end of that month the seven or 
eight miles are pretty generally cleared of all merchan- 
dise and booths, for later on in the autumn most of 
the territory is overflowed and under water. 

The porters, laborers, boatmen, teamsters are nearly 
all Tartars, wretchedly clothed, and apparently living 
anywhere and anyhow. The great merchants of St. 
Petersburg and other Russian cities have chief clerks 
or managers here during the season, to look after their 
interests, and they generally have rooms in the upper 
part of their warehouses and do their business with 
each other in a sort of public square, where an exchange 
is daily held. 

At this exchange, and in and about the square in 
which it is situated, a large crowd of brokers, buyers, 
dealers, and merchants, of different nationalities, assem- 
ble daily, at noon. And, judging from the hum of 
voices, clatter of different tongues, and the excited 
gesticulations, all were as eager, sharp, and active in 
their business transactions as their brethren in Euro- 



226 RUSSIAN CEREALS — RUDE AGRICULTURE. 

pean or American capitals. Here we found lumber- 
merchants, tea-traders, ship-captains, iron-dealers, and 
grain-shippers, busy settling large transactions, or mak- 
ing their contracts. In grain it appears that the com- 
petition of the United States, Australia, and India, 
which is constantly increasing, has had an injurious 
effect upon the Russian product. Recent authorities 
place the average price of the best Russian wheat in 
St. Petersburg and Odessa as follows : in 1883 at $1.13 
per bushel; in 1884 at 95 cents; in 1885 at 90 cents. 
Rye in the same period fell from 75 cents to 62 cents 
per bushel, and there was in 1887 but small demand 
from abroad for Russian wheat, on account of the in- 
ferior quality of the crop. Russia is one of the large 
wheat-producing countries — in fact, the only country in 
Europe which produces more than it consumes, its 
annual surplus for export sometimes amounting to 
sixty million bushels, and yet most of the cereal is 
sown broadcast, harvested with the sickle, and threshed 
with the flail. Moreover, three-quarters of the harvest- 
work is still done by women. 

Some idea of the business done at Nijni Novgorod 
fair, during the two months it is held, may be had from 
the fact that over eighty million dollars worth of mer- 
chandise changes hands, and from one hundred and 
fifty to one hundred and seventy-five thousand sellers 
and bu}*ers are in daily attendance. 

Many of the Russian merchants were returning home 
during our visit, and when, at night, we came into the 
great railroad-station we found quite a crowd awaiting 
the train to back in for the journey to Moscow. We 
had half an hour to wait, and, as no seats could be se- 
cured in advance, but all must take their chances when 
the doors were thrown open and the now darkened 



A CLEVER RUSE. 227 

platforms would be lighted up, our chances for a com- 
fortable night looked ominous. 

Our guide, however, was equal to the occasion, and 
we were quietly piloted away to the farther end of the 
building, through a dark room, out through a door un- 
locked by an official, and thence conducted down the 
track to an unlighted train, and spirited into a choice 
compartment, which we speedily converted to our own 
use by putting out the sliding seats, spreading wraps, 
and extending ourselves for the night. 

In fifteen minutes the train was pulled into the 
station, the lights lighted, and the great doors of the 
station opened and the crowd of passengers poured in ; 
but a glance at the three foreigners and the limited 
amount of space was enough for Russians with their 
sleeping-wraps and pillows, and they made no effort to 
trench upon the space left in our compartment, and 
so we rolled on in sole possession till we reached Mos- 
cow next day, and considered the five-rouble bribe well 
expended. 

I noticed many of these returning Russian merchants 
had large bundles of a regular travelling-outfit with 
them, such as shawls, towels, blankets, pillows, soap, 
etc., for in the lesser towns the accommodations are so 
inferior that these become necessities of comfort for 
him. And on the road between Nijni and Moscow, 
although a thin stream of water could be drawn upon 
the hands in the lavatory of the sleeping-cars, neither 
towel nor soap was provided. The use of water, it is 
said, is only understood by the average Russian when 
he takes his weekly parboiling in the Russian bath. 

Russian railroad-fares are rather high, and one reason 
why they are so is that at the close of the Turco-Rus- 
sian war, in casting about for some means to raise 



228 ENGLISH YARNS — OUR EXPERIENCES. 

funds to defray the expenses, it was decided to tax 
railroad-fares — that is, an addition of twenty-five per 
cent, was made to the price of all railroad-fares in the 
empire, the addition being appropriated by the govern- 
ment. 

I had read in the English story-books so much about 
the thievish propensity of the Russians that I thought 
that inquiry of the station-master at Moscow for an 
umbrella left carelessly on a bench there three nights 
previously would be a useless effort; nevertheless, it 
was made, through my guide and interpreter, and, after 
a description of the missing article, I was invited to 
step across the street, to the office of one of the officials, 
where a polite young Russian, with silver braceleted 
wrist, and who spoke French fluently, restored it, de- 
clining anything for the service except my signature 
of receipt and the name of my hotel. 

My experiences at the three cities I have attempted 
to describe were utterly free from any of that espionage 
or trouble from police authorities or respecting pass- 
ports that I had reason to expect in some degree. This 
may be in part owing to the fact that I was in the hands 
of the best of guides, a man well known to all the 
authorities, that we had taken care to have our pass- 
ports strictly correct, and, last of all, that we were 
Americans. 

One word about passports. These must be always 
properly vised before departure from Russia, as well 
as before entering, for no one is allowed to cross the 
frontier without proper authority so to do ; indeed, it 
may be more difficult to get out of the country than to 
get into it, if the proper precautions be not taken. 

But how it is possible for an individual who under- 
stands neither French, German, nor Russian to make 



THE DROSKY-DRIVER A MARVEL OF STUPIDITY. 229 

his way at all here seems a wonder. The drosky- 
drivers, of course, know nothing but Russian, and are 
wonderfully stupid in the interpretation of the lan- 
guage of pantoinitie. I could hardly blame one, how- 
ever, whom an American summoned to take him to the 
railroad-station, and, being unable to tell him his desti- 
nation, gave an imitation of the locomotive under a 
head of steam, which so frightened the fellow that he 
whipped up his horse and hastily drove off to a group 
of his fellows, pointing back in alarm to the supposed 
lunatic. 

There is no fixed price for the common street-dros- 
kies. and a bargain has to be al\va} T s previously made 
with the drivers, to prevent imposition. 

In some of the great shops in St. Petersburg and 
Moscow, French and German were spoken, and in many 
of the smaller ones the latter language by the German 
Jew proprietors. One is struck, as he goes farther into 
Russia, by the absence of ladies in the streets ; it ap- 
pears to be an Eastern fashion here, that they have not 
yet outgrown, for ladies to withdraw from public gaze 
and be seen as seldom as possible abroad or upon the 
streets. We saw some fine specimens of tall men, but 
their colorless, blond faces were in striking contrast to 
ruddy-cheeked Germans whom one meets immediately 
after crossing the frontier. 

The author's opportunities were necessarily limited 
in simply making the usual traveller's tour in Russia, 
from Berlin to Petersburg, to Moscow, to Nijni Nov- 
gorod, and their immediate vicinities. They were 
enough, however, to enable him to obtain some indi- 
cations of the vast resources of the empire, and to see 
to what great importance, as regards strength and com- 
mercial position, it is slowly but surely rising. 



230 RUSSIA AND RUSSIANS OF TO-DAY. 

Travelling is now more free and less impeded than 
formerly. Gas, water, railroads, the telegraph, and 
other modern improvements, are in use in the great 
cities, and being introduced into the lesser ones; while 
a strong middle class, of increasing intelligence and 
means, is appearing, who will do, and have already 
done, much to advance and develop their country. 

Russia covers an extent of territory half as large as 
Europe, and over a third of Asia ; even Siberia, which 
of late years is developing mines of enormous value, 
covers six times the area of England and Scotland. 

The Russians are evidently a patriotic people ; and 
the immense military force the empire could bring into 
the field if the army were put on a war-footing would 
render Russia one of the most dangerous of foes to 
encounter. 

With an enormous territory as yet undeveloped, with 
vast tracts of productive grain-growing land, mineral 
wealth not yet opened that must be almost fabulous in 
its amount, a tremendous timber-product, vast pasture- 
lands, good geographical position as regards controlling 
the commerce of the East, the power which the rulers 
of Russia are destined to hold in the future must 
exceed anything even dreamed of by the present 
generation . 






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